Sacrifices of the Heart
by Love.Strength.Hope
Summary: Felicity's already complicated life takes a turn for the worst when Team Arrows villain of the week turns out to be more than what they thought. She has to betray her friends without them knowing to help the villain get what he wants, or else people are going to start dying. Olicity throughout. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note at the bottom, this is just a disclaimer.**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING, JUST BORROWING THE AWSOME CHARACTERS FROM AN AMAZING TELEVISION SHOW TO STAR IN MY AMATEUR STORY =D**

Felicity's body ached.

She's sweating in places she didn't know she could sweat.

However, she kept a low crouch, waiting for Sara to attack her.

Ever since Sara found Felicity hitting the practice dummy six months ago she has taken it upon herself to train Felicity.

Sara claimed she owed Felicity after she took a bullet for her and though Felicity did her best to convince the other woman that she owes her nothing, Sara just shook her head and told her regardless, no woman should ever be defenceless.

The very next day Felicity started training.

Sara came at her with a punch straight to her face but Felicity easily blocked it and countered with her own punch. Sara stepped to the right and blocked it with an open palm. With a swift jab to her ribs to distract her, Sara turned so her back was pressed against Felicity's front and with a firm grip on Felicity's wrist, Sara flipped her over her back.

Felicity landed with an audible 'oof!' She felt Sara begin to put her in an arm lock. But Sara had already taught Felicity how to get out of this. Felicity lashed out with a kick to the back of Sara's knees; making her fall to her knees and loosens her grip on Felicity's arm.

She felt the lack of pressure almost immediately and reversed the hold so now Felicity had Sara's wrist. As fast as she could Felicity rolled closer to Sara and without losing her grip on Sara's wrist, she jumped on to Sara's back and pinned her arm behind her.

Felicity knew that Sara could get out of this and so she waited for the counter-attack. Instead, she was taken by surprise when she felt two taps on her leg. Felicity immediately let go of Sara's arm and got off of her. She held out her hand for Sara to take and pulled her to her feet when she did.

"Nice work, you're getting better."

Felicity, though panting, smiled back at her. "I have a good teacher."

Sara hummed her agreement before letting go of her hand and walking towards the bottles of water and towels they left out for themselves. "I think you'll be fighting with a weapon soon."

Felicity followed her to grab her own water bottle. "Never in my life did I think anyone would say that to me." She said lamely as she took a big appreciative drink.

Sara huffed out a laugh. "Well, keep this up and you'll be able to hold your own against me and Diggle."

Felicity was about to respond when her stomach let out a big growl. Reflexively, she placed her hand on her stomach and gave Sara a sheepish smile. "I feel as though we shouldn't make any rash decisions on an empty stomach."

Sara laughed and looped the towel around the back of her neck. "Why don't we freshen up and head over to Big Belly?"

Felicity smiled back and copied Sara with the towel. "It's like you read my mind."

As Sara went out back to clean herself up, Felicity thought she'd use this time to check on her babies and their progress.

Oliver had already been out with Sara and Diggle to break up a drug exchange that was going down. Felicity had complained about how utterly cliché it is, seriously, don't criminals use imagination anymore!?

In any case, the trio went down while Roy and Felicity kept a watchful eye through the security cams; they managed to scare information out of one of the lackey's there. All in all, it was a successful night that for once ended early for "Team Arrow."

Diggle had gone to see Lyla, Roy went upstairs to work, Oliver decided to go and make an appearance upstairs as well and before Sara started to train Felicity, she set up new searches based on the new information. Now that they know their target: Steven Drake only uses burner phones and thanks to a well-placed arrow, they know his number, so Felicity ran a search for it. Nothing has pinged so far but his phone is turned off, once he turns it back on however, she'll know his whereabouts straight away.

"Why are you still here?"

Felicity jumped a little and swivelled around in her chair to find Oliver standing there with his hands in his suit pants looking rather amused with himself.

Felicity rolled her eyes at him and spun back around in her chair. "I knew you got a kick out of giving me heart attacks." She concentrated back on her computer screens and decided to answer his previous question. "I'm just making sure that once we get a lock on Steven Drakes position it will be sent to my phone."

As she was putting on the final touches, she couldn't help but to feel so annoyingly aware of how close he's standing behind her. Felicity thought it ridiculous that after two and a half years of knowing the man, his proximity still has such an effect on her.

She almost groaned out of frustration when his hands gripped her shoulders. Doesn't he know the kind of effect he has on her?

"Go home Felicity, you work too hard."

Now she's convinced that he's doing this on purpose, because no one accidentally leans down and whispers in someone's ear without wanting a reaction out of them.

"I'm nearly done Oliver, just putting on the final touches." She said, her voice sounding more strained and breathless than she intended.

She almost cursed herself and her traitorous body. It's not that he's unavailable; Oliver and Sara did break up almost three months ago, not that she would make a move on Oliver or anything, she knows he doesn't feel anything but friendship towards her. Her mind may be made up on that subject but her body's reactions to him are anything but platonic. Stupid female hormones. Stupid Oliver and his uncanny ability to effect said hormones in such a way.

"Felicity?"

Oliver's voice breaks through her inner ramblings. "Hmm, what?"

"You stopped typing a minute ago and just stared at the monitor."

Confused, Felicity concentrated on the monitor and saw that everything was set up. "Oh, right. Must've spaced out for a second." She shook her head slightly and continued to close down her computers.

Once done, she turned back around in her chair to face him and found that she missed the feel of his hands on her almost immediately. To distract herself from that thought she proceeded to pack up her things.

"I was thinking."

"Never a good pass time for you."

Realizing what she had just said she stopped what she was doing and looked at him to see that half-amused, half-incredulous smile on his face.

Felicity felt a blush start to colour her cheeks. "Sorry, you were saying."

Oliver breathed out a short laugh and shook his head. "I was wondering if you were hungry."

"Starved actually, Sara and I are heading to Big Belly Burger if you want to join us?"

Felicity saw a look flash across his face before he smiled his fake smile at her. "Nah it's okay, you guys go ahead."

He never uses that fake smile on her.

Just as she was about to ask him about it Sara came out of the back room in her casual clothes. "All yours Felicity."

Felicity sighed knowing the moment had passed with Oliver, so she gave him a tight-lipped smile before stepping around him to her clothes. Now that she started to train with Sara nearly every night, Felicity decided to bring some clothes here for her to change into because they did sometimes head out to dinner together and being sweaty in a restaurant, whatever type it is, is just gross.

Plus, Felicity gets cold easily so having sweat soaked clothes doesn't help that little problem.

What was that all about? She thought to herself as she closes the door. Felicity looked in the mirror and frowned, as soon as Sara was mentioned he pulled a face and gave her that smile he reserves for business people and the press but not his friends.

Not Felicity.

She turned the water on full and cupped her hands to catch the water and splash it on her face. Maybe their relationship didn't end as amicably as Felicity, Digg and Roy were led to believe. Felicity shakes her head and dries her face; in any case Felicity knows that whatever has happened between Oliver and Sara has nothing to do with her.

Once Felicity felt as refreshed as she could without having a shower, she headed out to find Oliver and Sara talking quietly.

Sara saw her and smiled grabbing her coat "You ready?"

Felicity grabbed her own coat and purse before smiling at Sara. "Yup, See you tomorrow Oliver."

They started to make their way out when Felicity remembered that Oliver had mentioned something about being hungry before. She turned around and was a little thrown to notice Oliver's eyes already on her. "Did you want me to bring you back something?"

He just smiled genuinely back at her. "No thank you Felicity, I'll be fine."

"Can I ask you something?" Felicity asked all of a sudden.

She tried, she truly tried to just ignore her curiosity, but it was getting the best of her as the night wore on.

"It's about time." Sara teased. Felicity must've looked confused because Sara elaborated. "You've been distracted since we left the foundry."

Felicity inwardly groaned at that; she needs to work on her poker face. "Sorry."

Sara just waved off her apology. "Don't worry about it, just ask your question."

How do you ask someone if their relationship with your boss and friend did in fact end as good as a break-up could end? Felicity sighed and suddenly felt nervous, how could she ask Sara something like this? Of course, they have become friends over the past few months but that doesn't give Felicity the right to ask, it really is none of her business.

"Did your relationship with Oliver end badly?" Felicity could've slapped herself for how callous that was. In reality she should be used to putting her foot in her mouth but this is putting a foot in her mouth while digging an endless hole she can't get out of. She should just be quiet now and let Sara answer.

"Not that it's any of my business or anything, it's just that Oliver asked if I was hungry and I said yes but that we were going to Big Belly and that he should join us but he got that stupid fake smile on his face when I mentioned your name and told me that it's okay, but it was obvious that it wasn't okay and I'm shutting up right now." Felicity took a deep breath as she had let that out all in one breath.

There has to be some sort of cure for verbal-diarrhea, right?

She ran a nervous hand over her hair as she chanced a glance at Sara and couldn't help but see a hint of a smile on her face. "I was wondering when he'd ask."

Felicity frowned at that comment. "He'd ask what? If I was hungry?"

Sara breathed out a laugh and shook her head. "Oliver and I broke up because we realised we were too similar and shared too much history." Felicity watched her pick up a chip and shrugged as she popped it in her mouth. "It just wasn't working out for us."

Felicity, still frowning asked "Well then why the face when I asked if he wanted to come with us?"

Felicity's eyebrows shot up as Sara looked up at her with an incredulous look. Was she missing something?

"What?" she asked defensively

She watched Sara gently shake her head as a hint of a smirk started to make its way onto her lips. "They say that if you have to ask…" Sara left that sentence hanging, effectively ending the conversation.

Felicity's brain couldn't help but finish the Harry Potter quote in her head, but she was still obviously missing something. Something that, apparently Sara could see without even being in the conversation.

Felicity grabbed her keys out of her bag as she made her way back to her car. Sara thought it would be nice to walk to Big Belly as it's not too far but mainly because it's a pleasant night. Felicity breathed in a big gulp of air and almost gagged. For a computer genius she should really know not to inhale dumpster fumes. Sara had offered to walk Felicity back to her car but she waved it off because Sara is in the opposite direction and Felicity didn't want put her out.

She eased herself into her car, finally feeling the effects of Sara's training. She couldn't wait to get back to her apartment, run a bath and relax in the hot water. She almost moaned to herself at the thought but was brought out of her thoughts when her phone beeped at her.

She quickly grabbed it out of her pursed as she recognized it for the search she was running. Of course the bad guy turns on his phone just as she was imagining a night of relaxation; evil waits for no one's bubble baths. It was just too good to be true to be having an early night.

She sighed to herself as she looked at her phone and frowned. From the time it took her to realise that Steven Drake's burner phone is located in her car a gloved hand clamped over her mouth and sharp sting appeared in her neck before all went black.

**AN: Alrighty, so I've started this story and I hope I'm going to finish it because I feel like it could be a good story. I do have a vague idea of where it's going but I'm the kind of person that can't keep writing or posting a chapter until I have a definitive idea as to where this is going but when I do have it sorted I should be posting once a week. Just thought I would post this up to see what kind of reaction I get…for my curiosity's sake ;P**

**As you can tell it doesn't really follow the show's story, it mentions 2X14 "Time of Death" but then it goes off on its own tangent. Plus, I'm in New Zealand and, call me outdated or whatnot, but I like watching this show when it airs on television with my parents and the latest episode that has aired is 2x08 "The Scientist". Although, I'm also naughty because I keep watching clips of current episodes that people put on Youtube…hence, why I know about this scene.**

**Anyways, I hope to be back soon with weekly updates.**

**Mel **


	2. Chapter 2

Felicity groaned as she started to wake up. The first thing she noticed was how dry her throat was and how bad her head was pounding.

The second thing she noticed was how the zip-ties were so tight over her wrists; she felt them cut into her skin.

The last thing she noticed was how blurry everything looked and realised that somewhere along the way, she lost her glasses.

But the first thing she remembers is the feel of a gloved hand over her mouth and the sharp sting of what she realises now to be a needle plunging into her neck.

She's been drugged and kidnapped.

Felicity swallowed hard to try and lubricate her throat. How long has she been here? Long enough for her friends to notice her absence? And where is here exactly?

Thoughts like that flooded her mind as she could feel herself start to panic. Her chest tightened as she felt anxiety grip her throat; she needs to get out of here. Felicity squinted her eyes at her hands zip-tied to the armrests of the chair she's sitting in. She bit her lower lip and started to pull on her restraints.

The fierce need to cry out in pain became apparent as she pulled harder and harder on her ties, trying to fight through the pain but to no avail. She stopped, panting from the exertion, the pain and the drugs that are still in her system, Felicity felt something warm run slightly down into her hand. She didn't need her glasses to know that it's blood.

Felicity squinted her eyes into her surroundings, trying to see past the blurriness and make sense of the shapes around her. She knew it was futile without her glasses but she had to try. As she was taking in her surroundings as best as she can, a particular shape caught her eye, making them settle on it.

A very human-like blur was sitting across from her. She nearly cursed out of frustration when she tried to will her eyes into focus, but they just wouldn't cooperate.

"Is someone there?" She asked, wincing slightly at her own weak voice.

She continued to watch the figure for any signs of movement but there was nothing. Probably a trick of the light she reasoned. She let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding and was about to look away when movement kept her eyes there.

She watched the person stand up and walk towards her. Although she's tied to a chair she couldn't help but to try and move away from them.

"Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you Felicity." A deep, rumbling voice told her.

She frowned and tried her best to glare at her captor without actually seeing him. She's not the least bit surprised that he knows her name; anyone can read a driver's license.

"Well then why am I tied to a chair?" Her voice still a bit weak asked.

"To protect me."

Her eyes widened at that. She looked up at the blurry figure, which now stood over her. How does he know that she can fight? She only trains with Sara down at the Lair, so he couldn't possibly know that she can fight right?

"How do you…?" She trailed off and flinched back when she noticed him lift something up towards her eyes.

"Know?" He finished for her.

Felicity flinched slightly as she felt something settle on her ears and suddenly she's staring into bright green eyes. Calloused hands cupped her cheeks as he leaned in close to her and whispered. "Because Felicity, I know everything."

Alarm bells were going off in her head. This guy is dangerous. Every nerve, every cell, everything in Felicity's body was telling her to get away and fast.

She jerked her head out of his hands and kept her eyes on him. "Who are you?"

Felicity watched him watching her. Her eyes took in his appearance, from his startling green eyes which held a sort of childish innocence, to his jet black hair that was short on the sides and long at the top. His sharp cheek bones and full lips that are surrounded by smile lines; all in all a very attractive guy whom if Felicity saw at any other time, she would think that he would be a fun guy to hang around.

However, under her current situation, the thought of him smiling and saying funny things to her is utterly ridiculous.

A small smile lifted his lips as he took a step back from her. "I'm a little disappointed that you haven't worked out who I am yet."

Felicity frowned and was about to ask why she should know when she remembered checking her phone before being kidnapped. "You're Steven Drake."

She watched him spread his arms out to the side and bow slightly. "The one and only."

He raised his eyes to Felicity's and gave her a charming smile which under different circumstances she might have blushed but now all she can do is cringe.

"Why have you kidnapped me?"

"Because Felicity…" he said straightening up and heading off to the table next to where he was sitting before "…I need your help."

She shifted slightly and winced when her raw wrists rubbed against her restraints. "With what exactly?"

"I'll let you know when I need it."

Felicity frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

He looked at her with a smile on his face and Felicity suddenly realised why he has smile lines. He's kind of a happy bad guy. "Exactly that, I'll get in contact with you when I need your help."

Felicity was still frowning at him as she felt her frustration grit her teeth together "Well then why am I here?"

"Because I need for you to understand the consequences if you were to disobey or refuse my orders."

Felicity watched him pull out a handgun from the table. He reached for what looked like a whiteboard that Felicity didn't notice was there and she watched him wheel the blank whiteboard about ten meters in front of her.

"So this is the part where you threaten to kill me if I don't do whatever it is you ask of me." She said almost sounding bored. It's not that Felicity isn't scared for her life or that she wants to die, she'd just prefer to die than help a criminal get what they want. Plus, she finds it such a cliché to have her life threatened by a bad guy who wants something from her.

Drake let out a breathy chuckle. "No, I told you Felicity, I won't hurt you."

He lifted his hand to rest on top of the whiteboard and looked her in the eye. "However, I will kill them." He flipped the board over and Felicity's eyes widened.

There, stuck to the whiteboard, were pictures of Oliver, Diggle, Sara, Roy, Thea, Moira, Laurel and Detective Lance. The pictures were of them going about their daily routines which told Felicity that he's been watching them for a while. What was even more concerning was the picture of Oliver in his work suit heading into QC next to a picture of him in his Arrow gear.

He knows about Oliver. The logical part of her brain was telling her that it made sense really, if he knew that she could fight then that probably means that he's somehow managed to hack her security feed inside the Lair without her knowing.

Dread and anxiety started to attack her. Her heart was pounding hard and fast in her chest and her breathing started to become laboured. How could he know this and about all of them? She wanted to ask him but the anxiety seems to have claimed her voice, so all she's doing is opening and closing her mouth.

Felicity jumped when Drake continued to talk. "I know you Felicity." He walked toward her and when he got close enough he lightly touched her shoulder, almost caressing it before standing behind her. "I know that you don't mind putting your life on the line for a good cause." He bent down and whispered in her ear, making Felicity shiver uncontrollably. She tried to shake his hands off her shoulders but he just gripped tighter "I also know that you would do anything for the people you care about."

He dragged his hand lightly along the back of Felicity's shoulders and crouched so he was eye level with her on her side. She managed to tear her eyes away from the whiteboard and looked at him. "What do you want from me?" She pleaded, her voice sounding thick with her emotions.

"It's simple really…" He continued to whisper to her. "You keep your little team off my back, you do exactly as I say, then I won't hurt them. But if you don't…"

With the speed of Oliver and his arrows, Drake lifted his gun while keeping his eyes on Felicity and fired. She jumped and snapped her head at the whiteboard where he aimed and her eyes grew wider. The bullet had gone through the board, between Oliver's eyes.

"…Let's just say I'm a good shot." He smiled that charming smile at her and stood up to go back to the table. Felicity watched him put the gun down and grab something else out of the drawer.

"What if I can't do it?" Felicity asked desperately.

Drake, however, walked back over to Felicity with what she now recognizes as a needle in his hand. "You better hope you can, for their sakes." Before she could respond he knelt next to her again and paused with the needle just scratching the skin on her neck. "Oh and Felicity?" Her eyes fell to his again as he spoke softly. His hand cupped her cheek again to hold her in place. "I have eyes and ears everywhere, so if you think you can alert them to me…" His eyes flicked over to the whiteboard and Felicity couldn't help but to glance at the photo of Oliver with the bullet between his eyes. "…Let's hope you don't try."

With a sharp sting in her neck, Felicity's vision went dark.

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Felicity bolted upright in bed and immediately groaned in pain. Her head was pounding even more than the first time she woke up from that drug. She stayed sitting up and cradled her head in her hands. God, it actually feels like someone is banging on the inside of her head trying to get out.

"Felicity! Open the door!"

Frowning, Felicity lifted her head in the general direction of her door. That sounded like Oliver.

"Felicity!?"

She pulled the bedding off of her and unsteadily got to her feet. That's because it is Oliver pounding on the door, not her head. She lifted a hand to her head as she felt her apartment tilt underneath her. "Coming!" She called back as best she could but heard the strain in it. She grabbed her glasses off her night stand and stumbled towards her door.

She opened the door to a very worried looking Oliver and he immediately stepped into her apartment. "Felicity! Thank god!"

She frowned at his obvious concern for her but then closed the door behind him. "Please come in." She said sarcastically but half-heartedly as her head was killing her.

"Where have you been?" She looked up at him and only just realised that he's in his work suit. His eyes immediately feel to her wrists and before she could think of an excuse he stepped toward her and gingerly lifted her arms to have a look at the bandages. "What happened?"

When did she do that? She frowned as the thought occurred to her, did she bandage herself up? It was then that she noticed that she was wearing an old MIT t-shirt and a pair of shorts and suddenly she hoped that she did manage to change and bandage herself up without her remembering. Ugh, she didn't want to think about that now, mainly because of the creepiness of the thought of someone like Steven Drake bandaging her and dressing her while drugged made her want to shiver in disgust. So she didn't think about that, in fact, she didn't want to think at all; her head hurt too much. She reluctantly took her arms out of his grasp and walked over to the kitchen. "Please, Oliver, one question at a time."

She reached into her medicine cabinet above her fridge and pulled out some paracetamol. She then opened her fridge and grabbed out a bottle of water before popping two pills and chugging down half the water bottle.

"Are you hung over?" He asked her sounding surprised. She was about to say no but then she remembered her little chat with Steven Drake and she realised that it could be a good cover for her. She did feel hung over, just not from the most conventional way Oliver's referring to.

"Yeah, my relaxing night got a bit, shall we say heavy handed?" She said adding in a little chuckle for good measure.

"What, your wrists got sore from all the pouring?"

Felicity tried for an embarrassed smile and replied. "No I actually fell over and scraped my wrists pretty bad."

She looked Oliver in the eye and hoped beyond hope that he would just believe her and drop it. He was watching her closely and Felicity could feel herself begin to crack under the scrutiny so she changed the subject quickly. "So, what brings you to my humble abode?"

Felicity watched the muscles in Oliver's jaw tighten, he obviously doesn't want to drop it but she can tell that he will for now, though she knows it won't be forgotten. "You didn't turn up to work and all calls were going to straight to voice mail so I thought I'd come in and check on you."

Felicity frowned confused and looked up at her wall clock and was shocked to see the time: it's nearly 1 o'clock in the afternoon! She looked back at Oliver feeling utterly guilty. "Oliver I'm so sorry! I must've slept through my alarm clock! I'll get ready now and come back with you to work okay? Just give me 15 minutes!"

Felicity made a move towards her bathroom but Oliver blocked her way. He lightly grasped her upper arms and drew her eyes to his. "Felicity, are you alright?"

Her skin tingled where his hands rested on her arms and she couldn't help the heat she felt pooling in the pit of her stomach. His eyes are so inviting and his gaze is so intense but she had to concentrate, she needs to convince him that she's just suffering from a hangover. "Oliver…" Her voice came out a little breathless so she had to clear her throat before speaking again. She couldn't help but to notice the slight smirk that touched his lips however, at her reaction. "I appreciate the concern but I'm fine. Just an almighty hangover."

She held his eye contact unwavering. He has to believe her. "It's okay Felicity, take the rest of the day off."

"I won't take long promise, I'll be fine." Despite the night she's had she really does feel bad about taking the rest of the day off.

Felicity felt something kick in her stomach almost rendering her breathless as she watched Oliver smile gently at her. "It's okay Felicity, I think I can last a day without my girl Wednesday."

"It's Friday…" Felicity corrected him out of habit but smiled back at him. "But thank you."

He gave her one last smile before letting her go. She watched him turn to leave her apartment but when he had his hand on the door handle he turned around again. "By the way, has Steven Drake turned his phone on yet?"

An image of Oliver's photo with a bullet through his head popped up in her mind. Felicity looked away from him and shook her head. "Nope, still nothing on that front."

He paused before opening the door. "Well, let me know." He stepped out and closed the door behind him.

Felicity was still staring at the door long after he had left. This is going to be harder than she thought. She hates lying to her friends, betraying them and manipulating them just to keep them safe from Drake. She sighed and ran a hand over her hair, the horrible thing is that she knows that she's a terrible liar to begin with; even now she doesn't think she's completely convinced Oliver that she's fine. So they potentially could die just because she can't lie convincingly.

She knows that if any one of them were in her position she would want them to tell her but even if she did tell them, someone else will die. But how would he know if she did tell someone? He says he's got eyes and ears everywhere and Felicity does believe him, but to what extent do the eyes and ears travel?

She looked down at her hands and frowned. Does he truly know about her fighting capabilities or did he just see the bruises on her knuckles and assume? The only way for him to know is if he hacked into her security system that she set up and that's damn near impossible. Is he really that capable of hacking into her systems without her knowing it? Judging from the fact that he needs her and what else could he use her for other than to hack into some secure database? Felicity has a feeling that he's not that good with technology; he was using a whiteboard for pete sake!

There's only one way to find out, Felicity grabbed her water bottle and strode back into her bedroom to grab her clothes before heading into the shower. She needs to get to the Lair and have a look at the security footage.

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**I've posted this chapter because I thought that you guys deserve something to ensure everyone that yes the story will go on, but I have yet to really get the plot down. I have a better idea as to what's going to happen but I still haven't got it completely sussed.**

**I'm giving myself a deadline however, I know that the season 2 finale is in about 3 weeks so I thought that I'll have my story ready and start posting regular chapters by the Sunday on the week of the season finale – which I have been watching the clips for and OMG! How can this show get any better!?**

**If you're still reading this story by that time I greatly appreciate it.**

**Mel**


	3. Chapter 3

**So there's a massive authors note/rant at the bottom of this page, I wanted to put it in as a separate, authors note chapter, but I don't think I'm allowed to…So just in case, I put it at the bottom of this chapter…then again, that's probably not allowed either, heh whoops! Anyway, it's just to do with Oliver and Felicity and the season finale stuff that happened and my thoughts. Have a read of it if you want but if you don't then no worries=)**

**In any case I hope you enjoy, it's a really long chapter even without my little rant at the end. I've also posted early because 1) I need this chapter off my computer and out of my head, I just couldn't get it quite right and 2) I want to get all this season finale stuff off my chest.**

**Insert Disclaimer here…**

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"Oh come on!" Felicity groaned as her search through her security cameras came up with nothing.

"What's up?" Sara called from the other side of the room.

"N-Nothing!" She called back nervously, forgetting she was there again. "Just trying to get past a level on Candy Crush."

As Sara rolled her eyes and turned back to her practice dummy Felicity let out a quiet sigh. She's been here looking through security camera data for the past four hours and Sara has been here for three of those hours. The first couple of hours taking inventory – what for, Felicity had no idea – and then she moved onto training. At first she tried to coax Felicity into a sparring session but she managed to squirm her way out of that by telling Sara she has some important things she needs to check up on about Steven Drake. Maybe lying wasn't such a hard thing to do.

"I thought you said you had important things to do?" Sara called back after a moment.

Felicity looked up at that, scratch that last thought. She's slowly learning the thing with lying is that she may come up with so many but soon she'll forget which one she started with. "Right, I am, I'm just waiting for my system to update so I can start my new search for Drake."

Well that wasn't a complete lie; she is looking for Drake just in a different way.

"And so you thought Candy Crush was a good pass time instead of training to protect yourself?" Sara asked crossing her arms.

Felicity was about to give up and train when she looked down at her wrists. She lifted them up, maybe a little too enthusiastically, and replied. "My wrists are sore!"

Felicity saw Sara open her mouth and nod in understanding. "Oh yeah, you accidentally burnt your wrists cooking right?"

Felicity frowned but quickly recovered, that's right! That's what she told Sara, Oh god, what did she tell Oliver again? "Yup, clumsy me!" She chuckled to herself, more out of nervousness but Felicity couldn't help the bubble of laughter that came out. "So I'll just concentrate on trying to find our next bad guy, because that's what we're all trying to do and you're all relying on me to find this guy, so I'm gonna get back to it! Oh look, my updates finished!"

Felicity inwardly cringed, stupid lack of filter! If only she could pay someone to just follow her all day and maybe nudge her or just stop her from talking altogether.

She kept her eyes trained on her computers as she could feel Sara's eyes on her. Even Sara doesn't believe her! How is she going to convince Oliver and Diggle that everything is fine when she can't even convince Sara? After what felt like a lifetime Felicity felt relieved when she could hear Sara hitting the practice dummy again.

Felicity breathed out another quiet breath, this amount of stress is going to give her early health problems! She started to look through her security feed again and found no one that wasn't supposed to be here. She then had another look through her code for the cameras to see if anyone has tampered with it.

It's a simple code really that runs on time and movement. During the day when they are all going about their daily routines Felicity set the cameras to record everything but it's more to do with motion sensors. If there is any movement in the Lair then the camera will pick it up and an alert will be sent to Felicity's tablet, where she'll see live footage of what set it off, considering they have a rat problem it could just be a false alarm. The only way to switch that off is when one of them inputs the code to actually enter the Lair, that's when the cameras will automatically switch to record instead of motion sensors.

If Felicity had her way she wouldn't even have the cameras on while they were down here, she saw no point but when she was talking through it with Diggle he insisted on it, saying with a smile that it's better to be safe than sorry.

And how right he was.

After finding nothing that points to any alteration to her code, and after seeing no one physically enter the Lair Felicity was confident that Steven Drake made an educated guess based on the bruises on her knuckles.

Felicity frowned, something's not sitting right. The evidence shows that her cameras haven't been tampered with but her gut is telling her that she's missing something. Something that if she were to tell someone about her little night out with Steven Drake then he would follow through on his promise. But she can't not tell them and she won't do what Drake wants.

Groaning, Felicity closed her eyes, took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. Lucky for her the headache she woke up with, twice, seems to be slowly fading but it still throbs every so often. Her eyes snapped open and her glasses slipped back on as the sound of the door at the top of the stairs opened.

She quickly closed everything to do with her investigation and opened everything that the others would expect to see on her computer. She took a deep breath and unconsciously ran a hand over her hair. Hopefully, they don't ask specifically about Drake.

"Felicity, what're you doing here?" She looked up as Digg started to come towards her.

"Well hello to you too John." She said smiling slightly to him.

He smiled back but looked concerned at her. "Sorry, it's just Oliver said you weren't coming in today; said something about you having a rough night."

Felicity couldn't help but to laugh at how accurate a description that was. "Rough is a bit of an understatement, but I like to think that you guys are absolutely helpless without me so I got myself better."

Diggle breathed out a laugh and shook his head. "So, have you come up with anything else on Drake?"

Seriously!? She can't go five minutes into conversation without someone bringing up Steven Drake. How is she supposed to answer? Yes she knows where Drake is, or no, he still hasn't turned on his phone.

"I've actually just written this new program that may help us out, I'll skip the technical jargon about how this works…" Mainly because she has no idea how it works either. "…But basically, if it works like it's supposed to, then we should have Drake soon." Felicity looked up at Diggle and back down to work on her make believe program. That lie tumbled out of her mouth before her brain could comprehend what she was saying, a lot like her babbling. Felicity suddenly started to appreciate her lack of filter, though not for a good reason.

She glanced up from her computers and saw Diggle and Sara talking to each other by the practice dummies. Either way that little lie bought her a little more time to decide whether or not she's going to tell the rest of them about what happened last night, or if she's going to do exactly as Drake says and not tell them.

She tells them and risks a life or doesn't tell them and betrays her friends to help a felon get what he wants. She sighed; asking the same question won't change the same feeling of dread every time she thinks of the consequences of both of the choices. She sat up straighter at her computer and tried to think of it logically. Logically speaking, Drake never showed up on her security feed so there's no way that he knows about their Lair which also means that he has no idea about what goes on down here. Felicity already took her phone and tablet apart to make sure there were no bugs and there wasn't so, logically speaking, even if Felicity did make a call or did a search on her tablet then he won't know. Logically speaking, if he knew her as well as he said he did, then threatening other people's lives was the perfect scare tactic to get her to comply.

At a more personal level, Felicity knows that there is no way she could live with herself knowing that she aided and abetted a known felon. For all she knows she's helping him kill millions of people. Felicity suddenly felt sick at the very thought of helping him kill people.

"Felicity, what're you doing here you still look horrible."

She looked up from her computers to see Oliver standing behind them. When did he come in? She frowned as the comment sunk in and looked at Diggle who was smirking at her. "No, there really isn't a right way to take that."

Diggle breathed out a laugh as she turned back to her computers. "That's not what I meant."

Felicity looked up at Oliver and felt touched when she saw him genuinely concerned about her. That was the deciding factor for Felicity; she just can't betray her friends. Especially when there's a chance she may get away with telling them. "I know, but you better be happy that I did come in after I tell you what I've found."

He immediately walked around the computers to stand behind her as did Diggle and Sara. "So the new program worked?" Sara asked

Felicity nearly forgot about that but she tried not to let that show, instead she nodded her head. "I remembered hearing something about particular, probably cheaper, burner phones being easy to hack. So, I wrote a program that should turn one on if it was to receive the right signal via the cell towers, it was a long shot but…" She clicked open her original program that would alert her if Drake were to turn his burner phone on. "…there he is."

Felicity had been keeping an eye on his location all day making sure she didn't lose it. The arrogant bastard probably thought that he was safe now that he sufficiently threatened her so didn't feel the need to turn it off again. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she brought up a picture of a warehouse. "The warehouse however is huge; it was a factory where they made shipping crates and containers." She clicked open another window showing the warehouse schematics. "According to the blueprints, it has six doors on the ground with seven levels to the warehouse. And twenty bucks says they have goons with ridiculously big guns inside and patrolling the perimeter."

She looked up at Oliver as he leaned in closer to the screens. "Can you get eyes on the building?" He asked frustratingly oblivious to his muscular arm leaning on Felicity's smaller arm.

Felicity cleared her throat from the sudden tightness and looked back to her computer. "I've already hacked into the traffic cameras and unfortunately it's a black spot. I tried to get eyes on the warehouse through the closest store with a working camera but it's close to a hundred meters away, I can't get a clear enough view. Even when I tried to zoom in it was too pixelated to make out anything clearly."

She looked up at Oliver again as he sighed. "I'll take the north side, Diggle you take the east side, Sara, take the south and then meet me on the roof. Where's Roy?"

Felicity turned back to her computer and brought up her tracking program. They all agreed that it was a good idea to have a location app on their phones that works whether or not the phone is on or off. Not that Felicity really needed their permission for that, whether they said yes or no she probably would've set it up anyway. "He's upstairs."

"I'll get him" Diggle volunteered and was already heading up the stairs.

"There are too many doors for just us to cover." Sara pointed out. "In such a big building with only four of us searching it, it will take a while and Drake could easily slip out before we're done searching."

Felicity had already turned back to the blueprints and noticed that the doors are automatically locked. "The doors used to operate by an automatic lock system that would run on its main power, so assuming they're still using the main supply I can override the doors and keep them shut once you're all in."

She felt a hand grip her shoulder and she looked up to Oliver. "You're right, I am happy you came in."

Felicity nodded her head defiantly and replied. "That's right. No matter how 'horrible' I look I've still got the magic touch."

She smiled up at both Oliver and Sara feeling a little bit of hope slip through her earlier feeling of despair. Sara walked off to get into her Black Canary outfit but Oliver remained where he was. "You know I didn't mean that right?" Upon Felicity's frown he elaborated. "The 'horrible' comment."

Her mouth opened in an 'o' and she nodded. She was about to reply when Oliver leaned ever so slightly towards her and lowered his voice. "Because you could never look horrible to me"

Felicity felt her entire body heat up as she felt her stomach kick even harder than this morning, so much harder that this time it rendered her breathless. Her mouth parted to allow for easier breathing but it didn't help, she was close to panting, borderline hyperventilating. She stared up into his calm and clear blue eyes, opening and closing her mouth with words that haven't even formed in her mind.

Her eyes glanced down at his lips when they moved into a small smile, a smile that Felicity has never seen. She can't put her finger on it but it sends a delicious shiver down her spine, very much unlike the one that Drake gave her last night. She looked back into his eyes and couldn't help but notice something there that, like his smile, she has never seen. They seem a shade darker and they seem to only focus on Felicity.

Felicity looked over to the stairs when she heard the door close and two sets of footsteps coming down them. She looked back to Oliver to find him still in the same position, she was about to say something - she didn't know what but something to at least acknowledge his words - when he finally straightened up and gave her a little bit of space, albeit he was still looking at her with that same heated look. "Hope you brought one of your hoodies with you."

He finally turned away from Felicity allowing her a moment to turn her chair around to face her computers. She took in two big gulps of air to try and slow her stupid heart down before she tried to open up the warehouses main power supply.

"Really, you still have to ask?" She heard Roy distantly reply. Her warehouse distraction wasn't as successful as she hoped it would be as her brain was still pre-occupied trying to recuperate her senses. One flattering comment accompanied with a heated look made her absolute putty in his hands; she didn't know whether that was a good thing or not.

After feeling somewhat normal she turned back around to find Oliver already in his Arrow gear, Diggle checking his ammo in his guns before holstering them and Roy changing out of his work clothes into more appropriate get up before zipping up his red hoodie. Sara however was already changed and had made her way over to lean on Felicity's desk accompanied with a smirk that was aimed at Felicity.

Felicity tilted her head and frowned back trying to act nonchalant but she knew exactly why Sara was giving her that look. Sara looked up at the boys before speaking "So, do you still want to ask the same question or have you come to your own answers?"

Felicity looked up at Sara who was still watching the boys get ready but she noticed a small smile on her lips. Felicity looked back to Oliver who was testing the string on his bow and realised that Sara was referring to her question last night while they were out eating. The looks he gives her, the way he always seems to find an excuse to touch her, the concern over her absence from work this morning and now the obvious compliment; he asked her out to dinner last night, as a date. The revelation filled her body with a sense of amazement with a hint of disbelief.

"Well he could've made that a little more obvious" She sighed a little and looked up to Sara. "Guess it was kind of obvious to you huh?"

Sara responded by giving her that same incredulous look as she did last night. Felicity threw her hands up defensively and lowered her voice. "Okay fine, but in my defence, I would have never guessed that someone like Oliver could ever be interested in someone like me." Felicity shrugged still feeling a little bit of disbelief at the revelation. "I'm not his type."

Sara pushed off her desk and spoke quietly to Felicity. "Which makes you the best fit for him."

Felicity watched Sara return to the boys as she allowed a small self-satisfied smile to reach her lips.

"So what's the plan?" Roy asked.

"We'll let you know on the way…" Oliver replied and looked to Felicity "…are we good?"

Felicity turned her chair back around to her computers as her fingers flew over her keyboard to check on their com links. She swivelled back around in her chair to face them and smiled. "You're all set."

They all turned to leave when she couldn't help but to speak up again. "Be careful guys, I don't feel like playing doctor tonight."

Felicity audibly groaned. "Not like that, I'm just…"

She stopped when Diggle, who was opening the door for them to leave, looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"…Oh you know what I mean! Come back with all blood inside the body and all sharp pointy things out of it."

She watched Diggle laugh and shake his head before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Felicity returned to her computers and stared at them without actually seeing them. All the previous giddiness she felt before with Oliver is now being replaced by nerves. This could work or it could end disastrously.

She shook her head slightly and took a deep breath. "Come on Felicity stay in the game." She spoke to herself softly.

She brought up the warehouse schematics on her left computer screen, her friends' cell phone location app on her right screen while she concentrated on hacking into the warehouses main security system.

She was getting closer to getting inside when her cell phone ringing interrupted her. Her fingers froze immediately and her eyes locked onto the screen that said private number. She felt her stomach drop and that same feeling of anxiety started to steal her breath away. Oh god, he knows what she told them, he knows they're on their way. She took out her coms link and reached for the phone to pick it up.

She accepted the call and brought it to her ear but couldn't greet the stranger; the anxiety seems to have claimed her voice.

"Felicity?"

Felicity's eyes widened as her hand covered her mouth to muffle a gasp. That voice, she could never forget that voice. The same voice that casually told her that if she were to defy him he would start to kill people.

"Oh Felicity, don't act so surprised. I did tell you I have eyes and ears everywhere."

She could hear the smile in his voice and it made her stomach do a sickening flip. "How…?"

Felicity barely managed to voice that word let alone the entire sentence but it was obvious what she was trying to ask.

"Have you noticed a strange weight to your glasses since our little chat last night?"

Felicity frowned as she concentrated on her glasses that are currently propped on her nose. She can't say she has noticed but then again, she's been rather distracted over the past few hours.

"Want to see what I see?"

Felicity jumped away from her computer screens and nearly toppled over her chair. There, on her computer screens were live images of her computer screen. Slowly she lifted a hand and started to wave it in front of her eyes and watched her own hand waving on her computer screens.

He put a mini camera in her glasses.

That's how he'll know if she were to tell anyone, she is literally his eyes and ears.

"Felicity we don't have much time, I know your team is on their way to me." She almost jumped as the voice came through the phone she forgot she was holding.

"What?" She whispered.

"Remember what I said would happen if you didn't help me?"

As soon as Felicity thought of the whiteboard three different images popped up on each computer screen. They were live images of Thea, Laurel and Detective Lance and they all had crosshairs on their heads.

"No wait! Please!" Felicity cried into the phone.

"You have one minute to lead your team astray Felicity, or else one of these three won't be seeing tomorrow."

Felicity has never moved so fast, she dived over to her desk to grab her coms link and started to speak into it. "Oliver we have a problem!"

"What is it Felicity?" His voice came back strong but concerned.

She realised she must sound absolutely distraught so she swallowed a big gulp of air to at least take the edge away. "It's Drake's phone."

"What about it?"

"It's moved." God, it was hard to talk let alone breath. "He's not at the warehouse anymore. According to my program he's on Oceans Rd! Make a left now!"

He didn't answer back and for a second Felicity wondered if the coms were down. Glancing at her computer she saw four red dots do a quick left turn down another street.

"Thirty seconds Felicity" She nearly gagged at the way Drake said that, he sounded genuinely excited about killing someone.

"Crap" Felicity vehemently whispered under her breath.

"Talk to me Felicity!"

Felicity panicked but realised what she needed to do…babble: "It's my program; it's screwing up on me! For some reason it's reading more than one burner phone with Drakes number and now my program looks like it has virtual chicken pox and I can't think of a way to filter out the other numbers without losing Drake's number." Felicity let out a huff of frustrated air and waited a couple more seconds. "Damn it!"

"Where is he Felicity?"

"Fifteen seconds."

Both men said at the same time and Felicity had to stop herself from screaming into both the coms and her phone "I lost the signal Oliver, he's gone."

She glanced over at her locator and noticed that all four dots had stopped and slowly breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to stand up to allow the raging storm in her stomach a chance to move around but she didn't trust her legs at this moment. They felt weak just sitting in her chair.

"I'm sorry Oliver." She sincerely means that as well. The last thing she ever wanted to do was to betray them. She can feel the back of her eyes start to burn as tears threatened to fall.

"It's not your fault Felicity."

She couldn't help the bitter laugh that escaped her mouth. "Thanks for the attempt Oliver but we both know that anything technical is my department."

"I know you'll find him Felicity, you always do. Tonight is just not our night."

She felt anger rise and she wanted to scream. How can he be so nice to her when she just lied to him!? She can't take this right now. "Just come home." She whispered before turning off her coms, not even waiting for a reply.

She took the little speaker out of her ear and put it on her table before closing her eyes and putting her head in her hand. It was then that she realised that she's still on the phone to Drake. "I did what you asked" Her voice was quiet and it shook from the anger, the adrenaline, unshed tears but she couldn't help it. "They're one their way back. So please, tell me that everyone is okay?"

"You did well Felicity, I'm sorry I had to put you through that." Felicity almost believed his apology until her mind thought back to a minute ago where the images of Laurel, Thea and Detective Lance were in the crosshairs. "They are all safe, see for yourself"

Felicity let go of the breath that she didn't realise she was holding and looked at her screens. There they were, alive and well on her computer screens going about their daily routine.

"However…" Her computers went back to her original programs. "I feel as though I must serve a punishment for that stunt."

His voice had gone back to that cold rumbling voice that Felicity knew from last night. "What do you mean punishment?"

"I see the way he looks at you, Oliver I mean. I know he cares a lot about you and judging by your earlier reactions I'd say the feeling is mutual. Am I right Felicity?"

What's the point of lying? He already saw everything that just happened between them earlier let alone when Oliver was in her living room earlier today. "Yes"

"Then I want it to stop."

She noticed his voice changed ever so slightly. "Stop?"

"Yes, any and all future advances he makes towards you, you will tell him that you don't have feelings for him. You will make him believe that you don't really care that much about him, otherwise I will kill someone."

Felicity felt her anger hit a new peak as she yelled into the phone. "What is that supposed to prove!? I've learnt my lesson I will lead them away from you and whenever you call me for something I will come through no matter what!"

"I know you will, but in any case, you will do as I say. Reject Oliver, protect and help me and keep wearing those glasses."

He didn't even wait for her to respond, she heard the click on the other end and the phone went quiet.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Okay so I want to talk about Oliver and Felicity's future judging from the scenes I watched on Youtube. Yes, I haven't seen the final episodes yet, here in New Zealand 2x14 just aired on Thursday night, but I just couldn't help myself from watching some of the clips, especially when Stephen Amell is always updating on Facebook and people were commenting all this 'Yay for Olicity' and 'Nooo how could the writers do that to us', and then I got this irrational fear that they killed Felicity which would be a HUGE mistake on the writers part, by the way, killing off one of the heart and soul of the show and also the people's favourite character…anyways, back on track. I felt like I had to say something not so much to ensure people but to maybe give them a bit of hope that Felicity and Oliver could very well be end game.**

**I want to draw comparisons to the ABC show Castle. I'm not sure if anyone who reads this watches the show but it was very obvious that Castle and Beckett were end game from the get go, very much unlike Oliver and Felicity. However, they didn't officially get together until the end of season 4 (which by the way was one of the hottest kisses on TV I've ever seen…) SPOILER!By the end of season 5 he popped the question and during season 6 I think they're planning a wedding (again, here in New Zealand, Season 6 hasn't even advertised to air yet but judging from the clips I've seen that's what it appeared to be)SPOLIER! and they seem to be very much in love - for Castle I think he realised after the kiss in 3x13 but for Beckett I think she realised around the end of season 3 or maybe even during the early episodes of the 4****th**** season - however, leading up to this awesome romance/love story was not easy.**

**It took Beckett up to the end of season 4 to finally let go of her mother's murder because she realised after nearly dyeing – multiple times - because of the case, that she was pushing Castle away. She became a Detective because she wanted to solve her mother's murder and that's what drove her character for 4 seasons. Castle was always there, helping her, being a friend, he even put up with her dating 'Dr Motorcycle boy' for the whole of season 3 and you could tell that he wanted more but she wasn't ready. Beckett needed closure from her mother's case before she could let down those walls she had built since her mother's death and once she had that then she could let Castle in and let herself love him. He knew this and was willing to wait for her because she had to make the first move. If anything happened between them before she was ready for it to happen then she would've run or unintentionally hurt their relationship.**

**This is what I believe needs to happen with Oliver and Felicity if they are to be the end game. (I'm not saying copy the Castle and Beckett story by the way, I'm just seeing similarities). Even if they make Oliver date Laurel for the next season just so he can see that really Laurel is not for him. Maybe even make Felicity date someone next season or during another season I don't mind, because I think that if they are truly going to be together and be the couple that we all know they can be then Oliver needs to first get his head right and then I also believe that HE needs to make the first move not Felicity. Then again he can't take too long because I don't think Felicity is the type of girl to wait around forever either. No matter what people on the internet are saying, I don't believe the writers of this amazing show have turned Felicity into a love sick puppy. Call it a bias opinion but Felicity, to me, is such a caring and loving person that her fussing over Oliver could be viewed as the acts of a love sick, pathetic girl. But she cares that much because first and foremost, he is her friend and he risks his life for people on a daily basis but no matter what he does he always finds a reason to beat himself up over it, that's where Felicity comes in, to kick his ass and tell him what he needs to hear. So I reckon that if the writers wrote them together by the end of season 4, with the same organic, natural progression of their relationship that the writers have shown throughout this season (with maybe a sneaky little undercover kiss thrown in somewhere next season ;P) then I would be absolutely ecstatic! **

**I know that technically Oliver and Felicity are not canon however, I don't see why the writers can't make it canon; they've already strayed a bit from the comics by adding in Sara as the Black Canary, (Which kind of ruined their plan for making Laurel the Black Canary because everywhere else on the internet that I've read 98% of people would prefer Sara as the Black Canary as Laurel is not selling it for the viewer's…yet keyword! I'm willing to give her a chance, even though I do not find her character all that appealing at the moment) in my opinion if they were to make Laurel and Oliver end game then I would think that it's totally forced. For me personally, I don't see the chemistry between Stephen and Katie and I honestly tried. I watched the first few episodes of last season and thought okay so Oliver and Laurel are canon and I really tried to like it but I couldn't. I don't know I guess I just couldn't feel it. I actually think there was better chemistry between Katie and Colin (RIP Tommy). I remember being on Youtube and seeing Felicity in like the snapshot of the video and no joke, I actually thought, oh look they're trying to make a love triangle, typical. But then I watched the scene, it wasn't even a scene where it was supposed to be cute or anything and I immediately thought, holy s***! I watched another scene that was supposed to have a bit of chemistry between them and they stole my shipping heart.**

**The producers have also hinted at Oliver and Felicity being the end game by saying in interviews that it's a 'slow burn' and whatever happens between them it's always 'one step forward, two steps back'. Plus, I also read a tweet on Thursday night from one person asking one of the producers (forgot his name sorry): "Was the 'unthinkable' for Oliver using the woman he loved as bait?" or at least something along those lines and the producer replied with "Yes". I also remember reading somewhere a while ago in an interview with a producer saying something like no matter what, Laurel will always be a big part of Oliver's life whether they're dating, or friends or whatever, she will always play a huge part of his life.**

**I also truly believe that next season will be the absolute critical moment for the writers, to really sell the Oliver and Felicity relationship or let us know that no, it's not going to happen. This is because there are still people out there on the internet who still think that the Oliver and Felicity relationship is forced or they're getting the friend vibe or they just prefer Oliver with Laurel because they like that ship or because it's canon. In my opinion also, the writers can't just dangle all of this Oliver and Felicity feelings in front of us and then rip it away; they would lose major brownie points and possibly viewers as well.**

**Okay I think my rant is over, sorry about this but I just wanted to get this off my chest because none of my friends watch Arrow and my parents don't understand what I'm talking about half the time or just wait until I'm done and change the subject. But please send me a PM because I want to hear people's thoughts on the current situation and the future of Oliver and Felicity. Whether you agree or not, I'm just curious to hear what people think=)**

**Oh and I meant to say before a huge thank you to everyone who is reviewing or following or favouriting, it means a lot for a shy girl like me…although it is anonymous so there's really no need to be shy because you don't actually know who I am…but that doesn't take away my gratitude, THANK YOU! I sincerely smile when I see so many people liking my random train of thought that apparently reads well=D **


	4. Chapter 4

**WOW! First I just want to say thank you to everyone for the reviews, favourites and follows I was smiling like an idiot when I checked my email. Also, I'm so happy that pretty much everyone agreed with my rant so thank you so much!=D**

**I've tried to make this chapter a little 'angst-y' but I'm not very good with angst – especially when it's Felicity who has the angst because Felicity having this kind of angst is just unheard of – so I tried my best to keep her in character as much as possible and I hope you like it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I still own nothing…**

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

It's been three days since Felicity has heard anything from Steven Drake. Not that she's complaining; she dreads the moment when he calls again. It's more to do with the radio silence; the anticipation of the next call is driving her crazy. It's leaving her alone in her own thoughts where she keeps asking herself the same questions: What does he want her to do? Are people going to die?

She sighed as she typed aimlessly on her computer at QC. If it was her choice Felicity would avoid being in contact with her friends all together. Not only would it make lying less frequent but it would also help her to feel less horrible about lying and betraying her friends. However, avoiding them was out of the question, she had to stay on top of them to make sure they don't find Drake. She's gone so far to distract them from finding Drake by giving them false leads and random petty criminals to go after.

Although avoiding them professionally was impossible, she did manage to get out of going out to dinner with them last night and feigned a busy work load to Oliver when he asked if she wanted to take a lunch break with him and Diggle. That's where they currently are, gorging themselves in burgers and chips while Felicity is stuck with a cafeteria sandwich that she doesn't even want.

She took off her glasses and closed her eyes to massage her temples; now that she's aware that Steven Drake is literally watching and hearing everything she does her senses have been on high alert for the past three days. She's starting to feel the effects as it's taking a toll on her body. She is mentally drained as all her dreams take her back to the night where she realised she's helpless against Drake, and in all of those dreams she doesn't stop her team in time. Though she hates falling asleep because of the invasion of nightmares, she considers herself lucky because after the first time she had that dream she now knows when it's coming and she can wake herself up from it. Although she may spare herself the image of them dying, the one-time seeing it happen was enough to remind her what could happen if she doesn't keep them away from Drake as it's now burned into her memory.

She stops massaging and puts her glasses back on to look at her wrists. She rolled the sleeves up on her cardigan and saw the red welts almost immediately, they're healing pretty quickly, but they're still tender to touch and can draw attention if anyone saw them. To cover them up she's been putting to good use her various collections of cardigans and light jackets but she has to be careful when she's sparring with Sara, because if she notices that they're not burn marks then she's going to have a tough time explaining herself then.

Felicity jumped as she heard the ding of the elevator, she looked up and saw Diggle and Oliver step into the foyer. She felt a pang of jealousy when she could see how relaxed they both seemed. She plastered on a smile as they strode up to her desk.

Oliver placed a coffee cup on her desk and smile at her. "We thought you might need a pick me up."

She looked at the coffee cup he just placed and instantly felt terrible. Here she is, avoiding them, lying to them and sending them off on wild goose chasses and they still bring her small gifts. She looked up at Oliver and gave him a tight lipped smile. "You guys are a god send, thank you!"

She watched Oliver frown a little and suddenly wondered if she said something wrong. What if she's giving away too much and he already knows that she's lying!? Felicity was about to have a full blown panic attack when Oliver straightened and smiled back. "It's the least I could do for the amount of work you're putting into both jobs."

A flush of relief swept through her body, she really needs to keep her irrational fear of them finding out better controlled. She kept her smile in place and watched as Oliver walked back into his office. Diggle, however, stood there and looked at her curiously.

Deciding to not ignore this look Felicity looked back at him. "What? Is there something on my face?" She started to unconsciously wipe around her mouth, not really thinking that nothing should be there considering she hadn't eaten or drunk anything.

John still regarded her with the same curious look and Felicity couldn't help but to feel a little uncomfortable under his gaze. It's different to when Oliver gives her the same look; he's more harsh and relentless, making it easy for Felicity to be stubborn. But John's is warm and understanding, which makes it even harder to lie to his face. "Are you okay?"

The combination of his look with his soft, caring tone, Felicity nearly cracked. She imagined breaking down and crying and spilling her guts about everything. She imagined the sudden lightness she would feel by lifting that burden off of her shoulders. But her mind has built in her own backup safety protocol, because whenever she imagines telling any of them about Steven Drake, her brain musters up the images of them dead in her dream, effectively snapping her out of her own head.

Felicity acted surprised by the question and replied. "Yeah I'm good, why?"

John, not looking convinced kept looking at her. "You just seem distant and uncharacteristically quiet lately."

Felicity shrugged "I guess I've just been stressed about the workload from both jobs."

John still looked unconvinced but sighed. "Okay, if you say so."

Felicity smiled back at him and watched him survey her one last time before he turned around and went to the elevator. "If Oliver asks I'm at the foundry."

"I'm sorry!" Felicity blurted out all of a sudden making him turn back around to face her. She mentally kicked herself, he was walking away, albeit unconvinced but he left it alone, she just had to open her big mouth!

"Sorry for what?" He asked curiously

Her glasses suddenly felt heavier on her face. She couldn't tell him exactly for obvious reasons but it made the apology no less sincere "For making you and probably Oliver worry about me."

John sighed as he lowered his voice. "Felicity, Oliver and I will always worry about you especially when you're not quite yourself lately. But we all have secrets and as much as we want to know them we have no right to them unless you're willing to share them. So until then, know that we've got your back and we'll be here when you're ready to share."

Felicity's throat tightened as the risk of crying became apparent. She doesn't deserve this level of kindness being sent her way, she almost wishes he'd just yell at her because that she thinks she deserves. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and smiled slightly up at John. "Thanks John."

He nodded to her and she watched as he went back to the awaiting elevator and stepped in and out of sight.

Felicity quickly sucked up the tears that were threatening to come to the surface. She thought it disgusting that she thinks she has the right to feel sorry for herself, as far as she's concerned, after whatever it is that Drake wants her to do, she'll confess everything to the team and then she'll walk away from that life because there is no way that they can trust her again.

Even if by a small chance they want her to stay, she can't do that to them. No matter what there will always be that small sliver of doubt whenever she spouts something about the whereabouts of a criminal. They're already risking their lives by confronting these lowlifes so they don't need the added stress of wondering if what she says is truth.

After all of this she is out of their lives for good. They deserve someone they can trust and rely on and she deserves the isolation and absence that will inevitably come with leaving her friends.

Felicity glanced up at Oliver at his desk and her chest tightened. She wanted him and somewhere deep inside of her she still feels that amazement of knowing that he wanted her too. But of course, just like Barry, when a guy is interested in her a lightning strike, this time by the name of Steven Drake, will come along and take Oliver away from her for good. She once told him that he deserves better and at the time, while she genuinely meant it, a small part of her meant herself. Now, there is no way she thinks she's his better. Now, she thinks he deserves better than her.

She tore her eyes away from him before he noticed and tried to concentrate back on her computers. Although Felicity knows Drake is watching her she can't help but to try and figure out how he managed to get into her computers to put those live images on her screens. Her computers should've told her that someone was lurking in her systems. Hell, it shouldn't have even got that far; her firewalls are on par with the pentagon.

She thought it ridiculous that someone, who still uses a whiteboard, was able to get past her security without her knowledge. Yes he managed to put a bug into her glasses without her even noticing the difference but that doesn't necessarily mean that it comes with computer skills.

Felicity has been at this for a couple of days now and it's still coming up with nothing. As far as her computers are concerned no one but her has accessed them. That makes it even more of a mystery as to how he did it and everyone knows how much Felicity hates mysteries.

Felicity was brought out of her work when she heard the creak of the door to Oliver's office open. She looked up and saw him walking towards her with a strange look on his face. "Come on, we're leaving"

Felicity frowned as she tried to discreetly close down the windows she was looking at. She did it in time to watch him walk around her desk. "What? But you just got…" She trailed off when she noticed the time. How does she always lose track of time like that? "Oh, it's quitting time. At least for the daytime job huh, we're still going to Verdant?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her, looking at her like it was obvious. She knew they were she just couldn't help but to ask just in case they miraculously got the night off. She wasn't in the mood to send the team off to a random drug lord or thief. "Of course we are, but we're gonna make a stop, so come on."

She felt Oliver's hand on her elbow as he tried to help her out of her seat. "A stop? Where are we going?" She turned around and saw Oliver holding her coat up for her to slip her arms through.

Normally the gesture would see her blushing and turning around a little too enthusiastically anticipating the feel of his hands, but she can't help but to wonder what kind of boundaries does Drake want her to have with him. Is this okay? She looks at Oliver and he just smiles slightly, holding the coat up a little higher. Felicity turns around and stiffly threaded her arms through her coat, she pulled it closer in front of her as she couldn't help but to feel his hands smooth out the fabric on her shoulders before he ran his hands down her arms.

She can't react, don't encourage it! She willed her emotions to; for once, just listen to her. If she can manage to hold off any kind of reaction to his touches then maybe he won't ask her out again, or make any kind of move on her.

"We are going out to dinner." He said emphasizing the 'we' as he bent over and picked up her purse.

Of course, how could she not see that coming? She started to shake her head but Oliver was quick to stop her protests by placing a hand on her back and guided her toward the elevators. "No, no excuses. Work will still be there tomorrow and you didn't even touch your sandwich so I know you haven't eaten yet."

"Oliver I'm fine, honestly, we'll just go straight to Verdant and I'll grab something when I get home later tonight."

Oliver pressed the button for the elevator and turned to look at her. "Felicity…" He sighed as his hands stayed on her arms, almost holding her in place. "…I've been worried about you, we all have. I don't know if you're still blaming yourself for what happened the other night or if there's something else that's going on but I want you to know that no one blames you."

Felicity sighed and tried hard not to be effected by his words or his gaze. "I know and I don't blame myself for what happened…" She blames Drake "…I'm sorry I'm making everyone worry about me but I'm fine, just bogged down with the workload from both jobs."

Oliver smiled sadly at her, she couldn't place the look but it was like he was taking pity on her. The elevator doors opened and his hand slid down her back and guided her into the elevator. "You still haven't eaten yet and the Felicity I know loves food."

Felicity looked up at him and couldn't bring herself to wipe that smile off his face. He looked genuinely happy; something that no one is accustomed to seeing from him. Even in her current situation she didn't have the heart to turn him down looking like that. "Fine, a quick bite then we need to head over to the foundry because I really do have to find some criminals for you to arrow."

"Deal" Oliver said smiling down at her.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

"Oliver what are we doing here?" Felicity asked as she put down the menu. This is not a quick bite; this is a really expensive restaurant with food that Felicity can't even begin to pronounce.

She watched him glance up from the menu before continuing to read it. "We're having dinner."

"Obviously, but why are we here? What happened to Big Belly Burger?"

"I never said we were going to Big Belly Burger." He replied still engrossed in the menu.

Felicity rolled her eyes and plucked his menu out of his hands so she could have his undivided attention. "I assumed when you said 'quick bite' that we were going to Big Belly. In case you haven't noticed Oliver, this is not a quick bite; this is a really nice restaurant. The kind with over the top prices for small portion sizes."

Felicity watched him lean closer over the table and smiled. "Felicity, you and Diggle need to branch out from Big Belly. The amount of times we go there is not healthy."

"Well then why isn't John joining us?"

Oliver straightened up and avoided eye contact with her. He shrugged, grabbed the drinks menu and proceeded to read through it. "He said he wasn't hungry."

Felicity felt frustrated at his answer. She's suddenly brought back to the first time she met him with the bullet ridden laptop that apparently stopped working because he spilt a latte on it. Surely by now he's realised that Felicity doesn't fall for his stupid and badly thought up lies. She's smarter than that and he should know that by now so the fact that he thinks he can get away with this is utterly infuriating.

It doesn't help that her glasses feel heavy on her face as she knows Drake will be watching. She's expecting her phone to ring any minute with his cold voice that doesn't match his innocent eyes, to tell her to leave now. She shouldn't be out with Oliver like this, she knows what will happen if she doesn't stop this now.

"Oliver, I appreciate the gesture but I was serious when I said that I have a lot of work to do. In case you haven't noticed, I still haven't found Steven Drake."

"He can wait."

"No he can't!" She didn't mean to say it so forcefully. It was just her emotions getting the best of her again and she could see Oliver noticed.

"Why do you want to catch him so badly?"

'Because he threatened your life and the lives of everyone important in your life' is what she wanted to say but she held her tongue and looked down at her hands on the table. "Because he outsmarted me, and I will not have another Tockman running around this city. One of them was more than enough for my liking."

She started to pick at the chipped nail polish. She only just realised how bad of a condition they're in. She's been so caught up in her own head about Drake that she hasn't taken the time for the little things she would usually keep up to date with.

She watched Oliver's hand reach over the table and rest on hers to stop her from fidgeting. It worked too; as soon as his warm hand covered hers she stopped moving and looked up into his concerned eyes.

"Felicity…" Her breath hitched at the tone of his voice. It's that soft tone he uses with her that always affects her. "…What is going on with you?"

His gaze is so intense that she has to force herself to look away else she'll reveal everything to him. "I just need to find Drake Oliver, please." She pleaded with him.

She watched him watch her; probably looking for some hint of a better explanation. After what felt like a long time he sighed and retracted his hand. "Okay." Guilt riddled her body at the sound of his dejected voice as she watched him stand up and grab his jacket. She followed suit and followed him out of the restaurant.

When he held the door open for her to leave she looked at him and spoke genuinely "Thank you."

She watched him feeling absolutely guilty as he pursed his lips and nodded with a hum of acknowledgment.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

The ride over was quiet. Felicity has been needing quiet for a few days now but the kind of quiet she was sitting in was unbearable. Oliver insisted that they stop off at a Chinese restaurant on the way to Verdant so Felicity could grab some food and take it back with her to eat while she works. But when she returned to her car with her food he wouldn't talk to her, heck he wouldn't even look at her.

She tried to reason with herself, saying in her mind that them not talking is the best thing that could happen for both of them. Least, she accidentally say something she's not meant to. Or, he'll say something that she's been waiting for him to say but can't handle hearing right now. Ever since her call from Drake she's been hoping that Sara, Diggle, everyone is wrong about his feelings for her. But of late, she sees them clear as day; and it's killing her slowly.

Killing her to know he feels the same but she can't act on it and if he does then she has to stop it. Stop it before it can happen.

Felicity walked in front of Oliver as they entered the Liar to see John and Sara sparring on the mats in front of her computers and Roy practicing with the bow and arrow.

They hadn't notice them come in so she sat down at her computers, unpacked her dinner and carried on where she left off. Not one minute into her work was she interrupted by John leaning over her computers, pointing at her dinner "I thought you two went out for dinner?"

Felicity glanced at Oliver and saw him talking to Roy, probably giving him tips on firing an arrow. She looked back at John and back down at her computers, avoiding eye contact "We didn't end up eating."

John frowned slightly, obviously realising something happened but wisely dropped it. He must have noticed Felicity's lack of communication so he turned around and went back to sparring with Sara.

The night carried on much like that: everyone working out while Felicity worked on her computers. Sara was the first to leave, saying she was having dinner with Laurel and her dad, Roy had to go upstairs to start his shift. John left saying that he wants to spend time with Lyla but not before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder which told her more than any words could. And Oliver had suited up to go out for a patrol. Unlike John, Oliver told her very tersely that he's "going out".

Felicity had sighed then; she felt that the worst was yet to come between her and Oliver and she was already losing him.

Felicity is currently letting her frustrations out on the punching bag. The same things were coming up on her computers, code hasn't been tampered with, Drake doesn't show up on her security cameras, her computers tell her that they haven't been touched but those images tell her otherwise, there is no digital footprint left behind, he's watching her every move, she must lead the team away from him, she must reject Oliver.

Felicity let out a yell as the thoughts erupted in her head and she hit the bag again and again until the skin on her knuckles were about to break. With a final punch Felicity fell to her knees and braced her hands in front of her. She panted heavily and stared at the cuts on her wrists, ignoring the sting when sweat runs into them.

Feeling her arms shake from holding her upper body up she flipped herself onto her back, with her arms and legs spread out to her sides, as she stared up at her camera she set up in the corner. The longer she stared at it the more she noticed that there's something that wasn't supposed to be there. Felicity propped herself up on her elbows and squinted to have a better look. What is that?

She stood up and stood under the camera to get a better look.

"Son of a bitch!" she spat, that's how he did it!

Felicity took her glasses off to train as she found them annoying training with them on, but the fear of what could happen if Drake doesn't keep an eye on her made her leave them facing her, so he can watch her train. She's very much aware that he's watching her now but the fact that she can see the device means that he doesn't care that she's found it. That bastard has managed to get into her and her friends sanctuary and plant a copycat device on her cameras.

She's only heard of the device and has only seen a couple of pictures but she's one hundred percent sure that this is the copycat device. It links the user into the technology and loads it onto their remote computer, effectively making whatever they plugged the device into theirs to use for their own purposes. And the best part about it is that the owner of said technology has no idea it's happening because it's made to look like the owner accessed it not anyone else. The only way to know is if they can physically see the device plugged in, which usually would only happen if the person who planted it wanted the other person to see it.

Her computers haven't been lying to her all this time and her gut has been right: she just knew something was off when someone threatened her using a whiteboard and suddenly he's able to hack into her firewalls without leaving a digital footprint? That's why there was no trace of him in her computers, because he didn't hack into her security feed he placed a bug on her cameras, just like the bug he put in her glasses, so he can see everything that goes on down here.

She looked to her computers and quickly crossed the mats to the hard drive. She crawled underneath the table to get a better look and swore loudly as she found another device on her hard drive. That's why whenever she checked if there was a breach in her security it told her there wasn't because every time he accessed her computers they thought it was Felicity accessing them.

Drake must've somehow broken in to the Liar, placed the bugs, accessed her security feed and erased the footage by putting a loop on the minute or so he would've needed in here to plant the bugs. He must've known the code otherwise her cameras would've picked up on the movement and sent an alert and the live footage of him being down here to her tablet.

How did he get the code?

"Felicity?"

The sudden voice gave her such a fright she hit her head on the table. "Ow!" She complained as she held her head and eased herself out from under the table.

She felt a hand on her arm helping her up. "Are you alright?"

She felt him trying to pull her hand away to have a look at her head. "I'm fine Oliver" She said pulling away from his touch. "You gave me a heart attack but I'm fine."

She heard him sigh. "What were you doing under there?"

She dropped her hand and went to walk around to her chair. "A cord fell loose so I was just plugging it back in."

Suddenly his hand grabbed her arm and forced it back up. She realised with horror that she doesn't have anything to cover her wrists. "Felicity, what the hell are those?"

She yanked her hand out of his and held it close to her body. "It's nothing" She said lamely. She can't remember what she told Oliver as her excuse when he asked about the bandages.

He tried reaching for her hand again but she took a step back and tried to make her way back to her chair but her path was suddenly blocked by a green, leather wall. "Felicity what is going on with you?"

She let out a groan of frustration. "I wish everyone would stop asking me that! For the thousandth time: I. Am. Fine!" She said emphasizing each word.

"No you're not." He said as his hands found her arms.

Not right now!? Can't he just drop it like he has been doing for the past few days? "Oliver- -"

"No, stop lying to me Felicity, I want to know the truth!" Her eyes snapped up to his. How long has he known that she's been lying to him, and what about too? "You're more jumpy than usual, you apparently have a larger workload which makes no sense considering I'm your boss so I'm the one who gives you the work, you're avoiding us when we go out and you have those cuts on your wrists that don't look like they're from a fall."

Oh yeah, that's what she told him.

She had nothing to say, for once in her life, Felicity didn't know what to say. There is no lie reasonable and believable enough to make him believe her when she says she's fine. All Felicity could do was stand there, inspecting their shoes, and silently take the verbal bashing that was sure to come. Felicity closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, preparing herself but flinched when she felt his fingers under her chin, trying to lift her head. She complied and felt a pang of guilt hit her as she saw his face. He looked like she just slapped him, which she figured was better than flinching away from his touch.

Felicity felt trapped in his gaze as he spoke in his soft voice to her. "Felicity, you haven't been yourself lately, I don't know why you won't tell any of us what's wrong."

Felicity tried to act surprised but before she even spoke she knew there was no convincing him. But she had to try. "Oliver I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't told anyone what's wrong because there is nothing wrong. I'm fine"

"You are not fine Felicity." She felt his hand squeeze her arm as he took a breath. "I don't know what it is but I know that it's making you not you. Whatever the problem is it's making me miss you"

Felicity felt light headed at the comment; his eyes darkened as she stared into them. Her brain refused to cooperate; she could feel it fog over as she felt his hand under her chin come up to cup her cheek. "I miss the jokes, the babbling, the light, everything that is you, I want that Felicity back."

She swallowed hard as she tried to keep her voice level. "I'm still here."

"Physically yes, but you…" His thumb caressed the skin on her cheek as he studied her. "…the Felicity I care about is not and I need for her to come back."

That soft tone he used with her was enough to melt her insides. He's being so careful and tender with her that she's finding it hard to remember what she has to do. There was something she must do but for the life of her, the skin he's stroking on her cheek is burning at his constant contact, distracting her. Oliver's eyes were more interesting than trying to remember whatever it is she's supposed to do anyway.

The only warning Felicity got was his furtive glance at her lips before he claimed them. She stumbled back at the sudden contact but one of his arms wrapped around her waist to keep her from falling. She was in shock; she never actually thought he'd kiss her without warning. Only when his surprisingly soft lips encouraged her to react does her eyes slide closed and her lips begin to move against his.

She could feel his arm around her waist try to pull her even closer to him as his other hand raked through her hair. She was flush against his hard body and Felicity tried to supress the embarrassing moan that escaped because of the contact. One of her hands came up and splayed across the taut muscles between his shoulder blades as her other hand went to the back of his neck, playing with the hair at the nape.

Felicity was overwhelmed with the amount of feelings he was putting behind this kiss. Felicity is no prude, she's been with a few men but none of them can compare to Oliver. Never in her life has she been kissed like this man is kissing her right now and its making her crave more.

"_Reject Oliver…"_

Felicity pushed Oliver away with a gasp as Drakes voice filled her head. What has she done!? This is the exact opposite of what she's supposed to be doing!

One hand covered her mouth as her other rested on her chest as she fought to regain her breathing. The combination of the kiss and the realisation of what she just did made her breath heavily. She is so stupid! How could she forget what she's been trying to avoid for the past three days!?

"Felicity?"

She saw Oliver trying to reach out to her again but she backed away shaking her head. "No, don't." She said hearing her own voice riddled with emotions.

She couldn't look at him but out of the corner of her eye she saw him stop his approach. She kept taking deep breaths to slow her heart rate down but it wouldn't as she kept realising the same thing: she just risked someone's life for a kiss. The back of her eyes started to sting at the thought but she blinked rapidly to get rid of them.

"Felicity?"

She made the mistake of looking up at him; she could see the hurt she caused by retreating from his touch, the fear of rejection because she pushed him away. Felicity's heart ached at the sight of him, he's so uncharacteristically vulnerable right now and it's all because she couldn't keep her emotions in check.

She needs to get away from him. "I'm sorry but I have to go."

She managed to move her legs in the direction of her coat and purse, hastily scooping them up in her arms. "Wait! Felicity talk to me, what's wrong?"

She shook her head. "You wouldn't understand."

"Then help me to understand."

Her phone suddenly rang through the silence and the familiar feeling of dread filled her body. She froze; stopped packing her bag at the sound. She slowly reached into her bag for it and with a shaky hand she grabbed it.

She let out a breath of relief as she saw the caller I.D. it was Sara. She accepted the call and brought it up to her ear. "Sara, now's not a good - -"

"Diggle's been shot!"

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Thanks for reading guys, I'll be back with an update hopefully next Sunday (New Zealand time) so stay tuned=)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Holy mother of pearl! I can't get over how many reviews, follows and/or favourites my story has received! It means a lot. THANK YOU!**

**I realise with the last chapter, Felicity was really out of character and I've had the same thought you guys have probably had and that's why not pretend to have a shower and take her tablet in there and get her message out to Oliver or something like that right? Well I just want to let everyone know that Felicity will definitely live up to her 'bitch with Wi-Fi' persona! I just feel as though Felicity wouldn't make rash choices especially if it meant risking somebodies life, however I also believe that if you mess with her friends (aka shooting John) and with her relationships (aka making her push Oliver away) then she will definitely take the fight to them.**

**She was also taken by surprise when Drake showed her the camera in her glasses and how he managed to get live images onto her computers, so she's more or less being careful. To me, Felicity wouldn't rush into something like this unless she knows how the other person (in this case Steven Drake) works and what kind of advantage he has on her, you know? However, in saying that, I also believe that if the stakes are raised high enough (like the reasons I mentioned above) then she will become a woman of action.**

**I hope everyone can understand the sort of direction my story is going in and why it is. The funny thing is I like an organic, kind of a slow story but I also don't like a story that's about 10-20 chapters long. So don't expect to be in this kind of Felicity funk for long, because I'm only looking at about an 8 chapter long story.**

**It's not my best chapter but I just couldn't get it to cooperate so I'm sorry about that. Oh and just a heads up, I am no Doctor nor do I have any medical expertise whatsoever so if what you read sounds inaccurate then you're probably right, sorry about that.**

**DISCLAIMER: Nothing…Nada…Zip…Just no**

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Felicity spotted the reception desk in the emergency room long before they made it through the front doors. When Sara had told her the news Felicity and Oliver ran for Felicity's car and drove straight to Starling General. The ride over was tense and quiet. Felicity wasn't sure what he was thinking about but her brain was going into hyper-drive.

The obvious date that wasn't labelled a date was one of the things on her mind; she still can't believe that he actually thought she wouldn't notice. The copycat devices she found on her camera and on her hard drive. Those were shocking and it led to a more pressing matter: how did Drake know the code to get into the Liar? It's not like he saw her input it through the camera in her glasses because once she arrived there three days ago she never left, so there was no time for him to plant anything. And then there was the kiss. She glanced over at Oliver when she thought about it. That kiss was everything that she wanted from him and more but the subsequent hurt look on his face followed by Sara's call to let them know John's been shot was not what she imagined.

Felicity was making a beeline for the reception desk when a voice called to her. "Felicity, Oliver!"

She looked to the source and saw Lyla standing in front of the chairs in the waiting room with Sara sitting behind her. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

She watched Lyla shrug. "I don't know. No one has come out of surgery yet to give us an update."

Felicity noticed the blood on Lyla's shirt and her stomach did a sickening flip. "Oh god, how close were you standing? Are you okay?" A stupid thing to ask she realised, but she had nothing else.

Lyla shook her head. "I was right next to him. We were out walking when someone pulled a gun on him. The shooter was too far away for me to get a good look at him but I didn't have time to because John…" She trailed off as Felicity noticed the tear that escaped Lyla's eye and was slowly tracking down her cheek.

Felicity reached out and hugged the poor woman, partially out of guilt because she knew that what is happening now is her fault. She felt Lyla wrap her arms loosely around Felicity as her head buried into the crook of Felicity's neck. She could feel her neck getting wet from the tears and Felicity couldn't help but to wonder about the usually strong woman, now trying so hard to keep it together. She guessed everyone gets to that tip of emotional strength, where they sort of balance themselves on that point, trying to figure out if they're going to keep themselves from falling or let themselves be dragged down; this must be it for Lyla.

"How did you find out?" She heard Oliver ask Sara quietly.

"Dad got the call while we were out to dinner with Laurel. I heard it come over his coms, so I asked if I could go with him because I knew Diggle as your driver. Once we arrived at the scene I was told that Diggle had been taken here, so I got here to find him almost two hours into surgery. I called you guys as soon as I arrived."

Her eyes snapped up to Sara at that, something about that didn't sit right with Felicity. She didn't have time to brew over it though because she noticed Sara's attention focus to something behind her. "John Diggle?"

"Yes! That's us" Lyla called back stepping out of Felicity's embrace. Felicity turned around to see a man in surgical scrubs, looking weary from hours of surgery. Oliver, Felicity and Sara followed closely behind Lyla to hear what the Doctor had to say.

"The good news is that we managed to extract the bullet without too much damage. The bad news is his heart stopped twice during surgery." Felicity swallowed back a sob that threatened to escape her.

"Mr Diggle was shot in the chest, the bullet penetrated the chest mass, fracturing and bouncing off his left scapula before going back through his chest again. It broke a rib, nicked the pleural lining of his left lung before it imbedded itself into another rib fracturing it in the process, however Mr Diggle is a lucky man. The damage the bullet did to the lung was not enough to collapse it and was simple enough to repair. The bullet almost curved around his heart, missing it altogether, and there was little to no time between the shot and the arrival of the paramedics which gave him a better chance of survival." Felicity couldn't believe what she was hearing, he's alive which should make her feel a bit of relief but she just feels more guilt fill her body. She swallowed hard past the lump in her throat; she was determined not to cry.

"In saying that, he is not out of the woods yet; the next 48 hours are essential to his recovery."

"When can we see him?" Lyla asked quietly, her broken voice hit Felicity, making it harder to hold back her tears.

The Doctor sighed "He's resting now but I will allow one person at a time for a very brief amount of time." Without even looking back Lyla followed the Doctor to John's room. Felicity, Oliver and Sara decided to follow them to his room but hang back outside. Lyla went in and all three of them leant against the wall beside the door.

This is all her fault. If she just controlled her emotions better then John wouldn't be in here, fighting for his life. If she thought up a better lie to tell Oliver and if he wasn't so worried about her then maybe they'd all be at home. She let out a soft sigh and drew a tired hand down her face; this is too stressful for her liking.

She felt a larger hand cover hers and couldn't help but to remember that she had her glasses on so Drake can see everything. Instead of looking down at their hands however, she simply kept her eyes ahead of her before turning her palm up and feeling him lace his fingers through hers. As much as she doesn't deserve the comfort of his hand and as much as John is her friend, he's Oliver's friend too, probably more so than John is to Felicity. She owes it to Oliver at least to offer a little bit of comfort.

The door opened and Lyla walked out of the room looking pale with dry tear marks down her cheeks. Felicity wanted to reach for the woman but she couldn't bring herself to do it again. She just couldn't help the sickening feeling of betrayal every time she looked at the woman. "The Doctor said I can't stay…" she trailed off again looking at the closed door leading into John's room.

Oliver let go of Felicity's hand and she immediately missed the warmth his hand gave her. She hated herself for feeling like that too. She watched him step up to Lyla and spoke softly. "As soon as he wakes up I will move him to a facility where you can be with him as much as you want." Felicity watched him lower his head and strained to catch the last few words he said to her. "And I will catch the guy who did this."

"No matter what it takes." Sara added.

Felicity felt awkward standing there, knowing exactly who did it and why and feeling absolutely powerless to do anything about it. She watched the tick in Oliver's jaw and saw the slight nod Lyla gave him before she mentioned something about going home and changing. Felicity couldn't stand there for much longer so she opened the door into John's room and walked in.

The sight of him made her gasp. She's not used to John looking so helpless and weak. He's usually so strong and caring with his big brown eyes, and that warm smile he shares. There's no room in Felicity's image of him for the tubes, the IV lines and the beeping of the machines that he's currently hooked up to. She closed the door silently and numbly walked over to the chair that's already by his bed and sat down.

She looked down at his big hand and saw all the tear marks on the sheets from where Lyla was sitting just before. It wasn't until she went to grab his hand did she realise that tears had started to come free from her eyes too. As much as she didn't want to break down, she can't stop herself now. All the stress of the past few days has built up to this so she took her glasses off and lowered her head into his hand and let herself cry. She's been holding in the tears for a long time now and she just wants to let them flow. She doesn't care if Drake can see her, she doesn't care if he's laughing at her or smirking at the weakness he's seeing from her because right now she's cradling the hand of one of her best friends who's fighting for his life and it's all her fault.

"I'm sorry John. I'm so so sorry." She whispers between sobs.

The sound of her muffled sobs and the rhythmic pace of the breathing apparatus and his beating heart were the only sounds coming from the room. This is all her fault; Drake certainly picked the perfect candidate to lead Team Arrow off course. If any one of the others had been kidnapped…well, there's the first difference, the others wouldn't have put themselves in a position to be easy pickings.

She sighed as the tears seemed to slow down, if only Oliver hadn't of kissed her then maybe…Her train of thought finished there because a different thought occurred to her. Thinking back to when they were in the waiting room and that gut feeling she got when Sara told them her side of the story; there was something that just didn't sit right. If what Sara says is true and Felicity has no reason to believe otherwise, then Diggle was shot before Oliver kissed her.

She stopped crying altogether as the thought suddenly pulled something deep inside of Felicity. Sara had called her to inform them that John's been shot maybe five minutes after Oliver had kissed her, ten minutes tops. Sara said that he'd been in surgery for two hours before she called Felicity.

A feeling of utter loathing filled her very core as she looked ahead of her. That son of a bitch did this for fun! She remembered how he sounded when she last talked to him, and how excited he had been about the prospect of killing someone. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought; he did this because he was bored!

The revelation left her clenching her unoccupied fist. How could she be so stupid!? This whole time she's been wallowing in her own fear where she could've been figuring out a way to get back at him. She stared at John's closed eyes and felt terrible, although she's finally managed to snap herself out of her own head to realise what Drake's doing to her, it still took for John to be shot for her to come to her senses.

But no more.

No more self-pity and fear, she's done being his play thing; his experiment. It's time to take the fight to him and while Felicity is not exactly sure how she'll play it, she has an idea on how to start it.

She stood up feeling a little stronger than before and bent over to place a kiss on John's forehead. She silently vowed that she will get Drake, and make him pay, no matter the stakes. "Stay strong John." She whispered to him before scrubbing her face of her tears, picking up her glasses and walking out of his room.

She still has to act like she was before with Oliver and Sara. She can't be making it obvious to Drake that she's finally woken up and wants to fight back. So she looks up at them but avoids eye contact and speaks quietly. "I'm heading back to the Lair to have a look at the street cameras to see if I can't see the shooter better."

She walked away with her head down before they could respond. She can do this; she shook her head slightly, she has to do this, because this has to stop!

Just as she climbed into her car her phone rang and without hesitation she looked at the unknown caller flashing on her screen and knew exactly who it is. She sucked in a breath for good measure before accepting it.

"Why did you shoot him?" The question escaped her before she even knew it had formed in her head. She didn't stop there either, she had to know why. "I was doing everything you asked of me and you shot him, why?"

She could feel tears pooling at the corners of her eyes again but she furiously wiped them away. She's angry; more than angry but she has to keep a lid on it for a little while.

"You let Oliver get too close."

She could hear it in his voice, something about the way he said it, he almost sounded…jealous? "I pushed him away though. I didn't go out with any of the team; I refused to have lunch with Oliver and John, I even convinced Oliver to take me to the Lair so I can keep them off your back. I did what you asked but you still shot John"

"You let Oliver get too close Felicity!" She was taken aback by his tone. He sounded angry but hurt, like she had betrayed him. She frowned at the thought, what is his deal? "You were supposed to keep him at arm's length, give him the wrong idea, but instead you go out on a date with him. You kissed him"

The line stayed quiet for a long while. So he does know Oliver kissed her. But that's still not the reason he shot John because he was shot long before Oliver had kissed her. She sighed it doesn't matter why he did it; the fact is he did do it and she will make him pay for it. She sniffed before she spoke quietly. "Please stop, I'm doing what I can to keep my team off your trail and Oliver away from me. Just please stop trying to kill them." She pleaded with him, she still had to try and convince Drake that she's still scared of him.

She heard him breathe in before returning back to that cold voice she's accustomed to. "I will be getting in contact with you in a couple of days for the job. Be ready." And with that the line went dead.

Felicity looked at her phone before putting it in her purse. She let out a shuddering sigh and scrubbed at her face again before turning on the engine and driving out of the parking lot.

Thoughts were running rampart in her head. She has a couple of days to figure out how she's going to go about catching Drake without his knowledge, she has a vague idea but she can't risk screwing up so it has to be carefully planned. She frowned however as the latest conversation kept playing on repeat in her head. Why does he get so angry if she gets too close to Oliver? And before, when he was accusing her, he sounded so jealous and hurt. Usually that would lead to the conclusion that he has some sort of feelings for her but that is just ridiculous…right?

An involuntary shudder rattled her body; that would explain why he's so hell bent on keeping her away from Oliver. It kind of also explains when she woke up after he kidnapped her why she had bandages on her wrists and as much as Felicity hates the thought of it, why he changed her clothes as well. He also promised that he wouldn't hurt her; she thought he meant physically at the time but now she's not so sure.

Her grip tightened slightly on the steering wheel at the thought. Does that mean that John was shot because he went into a jealous rage? She couldn't help the bitter laugh that escaped at the thought. She's attracted a stalker lacrosse player, attracted a modern day, leather clad Robin Hood and now a psycho criminal whom she's never had contact with before three days ago when he kidnapped her and threatened the lives of her friends.

She needs to get to Verdant before the others to wipe clean the footage of Drake.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Felicity arrived at Verdant almost half an hour ago, just in time for the club to be in full swing. In that time she managed to access the traffic cameras around where John and Lyla were. She noticed the time stamp which confirmed what her gut told her back at the hospital: Drake shot John at around the time Felicity was in the beginnings of her workout. However, Felicity sighed and manipulated it so it looks like the camera can't see Drake. She hated herself for doing it even though she knew she had to do it so he still thinks she's on his side.

Speaking of which, Felicity needs to find a way to get at Drake without his knowledge. She got up from her chair and walked around to the workout mats. Oliver had to change out of his Arrow gear before they could even think about going to the hospital so Felicity had time to quickly change herself and remove her contacts so she can put her glasses back on. She kind of wished she still had her workout gear on; it's where she finds she can let her mind run free.

Although, she lets it run free a lot, usually without conscience thought, she finds the rhythmic sounds of her fists and feet hitting the punching bag soothing in a way. She can see why the rest of the team really gang up on the bag and dummies. Not only does it let her release some pent up stress it also allows her mind to wonder about her problems without her trying to overthink it. It almost gives her a different perspective.

She looked behind her at her security camera and saw the tell-tale sign of the copycat device and the same thought from earlier occurred to her: how in the world did he get into the Lair without breaching her alarms? She didn't give it to him, by the time he saw her input it through her glasses he would've already been in there to plant the bugs. It kind of begs the question of how long has he been watching them. Because a plan like his should not be taken lightly. He would need everything about all the people they communicate with to make it work.

She sighed that's probably how he picked Felicity, by watching them and realising that she was the weakest link. Her eyes widened at that, she was brought back to six months ago where she had a problem with feeling like the odd one out or the weakest link. All of her systems had been fried by Tockman. They were all at the bank that night, which meant the Lair was unoccupied and because her systems were down, he didn't need the pass code to get in; he just walked straight in, planted the bugs and walked straight back out again. Her hard drive was fixed by then so she didn't even pay attention to it especially when she's distracted by everything else being ruined. Drake must've been watching and waiting for his moment to strike and Tockman gave him the perfect opportunity to do so.

She ran a hand over her hair, just another one of her screw ups that Drake has managed to take advantage of. No, she can't think like that now. She can't be drawn back into wallowing over past mistakes and self-pity. She has to think of ways to be a step ahead of Drake. She happened to glance at her purse and smiled slightly when she saw the top of her tablet in there.

That's how she'll do it.

She looked up to the stairs when she heard the door close and saw Oliver coming down the stairs. "I'm sorry I left you stranded at the hospital, I just needed to get started on finding who did this." She said suddenly realising that she took him to the hospital.

Oliver waved off her apology "Sara gave me a lift."

Felicity frowned looking behind him. "Where is Sara?"

Oliver's jaw tightened a little as he responded. "Apparently they're so slammed upstairs that Thea told Sara she had to work." Felicity could see where his frustrations were coming from, she should not be behind a bar right now, she should be helping them get Drake. Oliver shook his head slightly and stood behind her computer chair. "Did you find anything?"

She sighed as she made her way back to her chair and sat down. She brought up the manipulated video and played it. "No, unfortunately the angle doesn't give us the shooters face." They watched the video and Felicity flinched when she saw the bullet hit John square in the chest, she's going to enjoy messing with Drake.

She felt Oliver's hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

He sounded like a broken record player. "John's just been shot so no I'm not okay."

"Hey…" He said softly. Felicity's chair spun around and she was looking straight into his eyes. "…We're going to find whoever's responsible."

Felicity suddenly realised that this is the perfect opportunity to kick off her plan. She smiled slightly and nodded her head in agreement. "I know we will. I just don't understand why he's been shot in the first place. Was it just a random shooting or was John targeted? And if he was targeted does that mean the person responsible is sending you a message as Oliver Queen or are they sending us a message as team Arrow? Because either way, all of us are targets."

"Felicity…" His hand that was on her shoulder moved up to her cup her face. "…I won't let anything happen to you."

Felicity's heart swelled at that and she wanted nothing more than to carry on where they left off a few hours ago but she can't, not yet at least. Instead, she gazed back into his eyes for a moment before pulling her head away from him and abruptly standing up. "I have to go."

She started to gather her things waiting for him to respond. "Wait, where are you going?"

"It's been a long day Oliver, I need to go home." She turned to face him and couldn't help but to see that same look of rejection on his face.

"Is this because I kissed you?" She was quite surprised that he's being so direct with her but happy about it because it's what she needs to start her plan.

She lowered her head. "Oliver - -"

"Because you kissed me back." He interrupted her. He sounded confused and angry which made her look up at him.

Her chest tightened when she saw how vulnerable he's being with her. She swallowed hard "That was a mistake." She said and before he could respond she turned to leave silently hoping that he'd just leave it at that.

"Felicity?" She stopped as his hand lightly caught hers. Her eyes squeezed shut and she took a deep breath, to try and keep the emotions in check.

"Look at me." God, he sounded desperate; it made her chest tighten even more. Slowly, she turned around to face him but couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that you don't have the same feelings that I have for you"

She's suddenly aware of her glasses that are propped on her nose, he's watching this. This is going to be hard but she must, for the sake of his life and the life of his family and their friends, she must lie like there's no tomorrow. She must do this though she knows how much it's going to hurt them both to do so. But she must convince him that she doesn't care for him like that. All those lingering touches, heated looks and that kiss; it all meant nothing to her.

She slowly lifted her head so her eyes met his and she almost couldn't do it. The look in his eyes showed pure desperation and need for her to confirm exactly what she has been showing the entire time she's known him. He wants her; for so long she has wanted to experience that kind of look from him. For so long she's waited for him to realize his feelings for her are more than friends.

And though she wants to be the one who can make him happy, she can't. She's suddenly struck with the thought and it makes her second guess herself. She wants to believe that everything's going to be okay, that he will understand once she tells him, but another voice is telling her that once she does this, he will shut down completely. Those stupid walls that she worked so hard to break down will just be resurrected again.

No she needs to do this; she has to believe that he will understand why she's doing this now. He just has to. Even though this is one of the hardest things she's had to do, she knows that the feeling she'll have after doing this will be nothing compared to the feeling of knowing that she was the reason for the death of someone he cares about. John's already been shot and it obviously took a toll on him at the hospital.

She takes a deep breath to steady her nerves and speaks with as much strength as she can. "I don't have feelings for you Oliver and I never will."

The look in his eyes once those words came out of her mouth made her want to take it all back. Tell him everything. But she can't, so before he even tries to respond and before she breaks her silence, she turns away from him, his hand slipping from hers as she walked away.

She got back to her car and wiped the tears from her face. That may have been fake to her but to Oliver and her tears that was definitely real. She never wanted to hurt anyone especially Oliver but Drake gave her no choice. He's so hell bent on her rejecting Oliver that she resorted to giving him what he wanted so she can use it against him. She took deep breaths trying to calm her heart rate. That was beyond hard to pull off but she had to do it. She needed for Drake to see her do it because now her plan was set in motion.

She sighed at the thought; she just hopes she can convince Oliver.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Thanks again for all the reviews and follows and favourites and for reading. Stay tuned for the next chapter which should be up by next Sunday (New Zealand time).**


	6. Chapter 6

**Alrighty, here's the next chapter, I hope you like it=)**

**DISCLAIMER: …NO!**

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

This wasn't part of the plan.

Well, it was, just not the 'zip tied to a chair' part.

Felicity's old wounds on her wrists from the same position she's in now opened up as soon as Drake tightened the zip ties over them. He's standing in front of her with his back to her holding a gun in both hands. Nearly 24 hours ago she thought that he wouldn't hurt her at all, now, after what she just did and what is currently happening, she's not so sure anymore.

Her eyes are glued to his back; she can see the tension in his shoulders. He's watching the doors looking poised to attack whoever should walk through. Her lip throbbed in pain as she swallowed more blood. She failed to unarm him. She developed tunnel vision and was caught unawares and now whoever walks through that door will be shot. Fear rushed through her at the thought, Drake is a good shot. He's like Oliver except with a gun.

Her eyes deviated and looked towards the general direction of the commotion. Another burst of bullets before it stopped abruptly with a muffled groan and a soft thud. They're close and she should be happy about that because she'll be rescued but that's not what was supposed to happen. Felicity was supposed to get taken back here, talk to them about the job they're pulling and when her team comes bursting through she's supposed to incapacitate Drake.

So the zip ties and a conscience Steven Drake was not part of the plan. Felicity frowned; where did she go wrong!?

_FLASHBACK – HALF AN HOUR EARLIER_

_Felicity was just waking up from the drug again, god she hated that drug. "Seriously?" She slurred when she could see a blurry image in front of her. "You couldn't have just given me directions."_

_She felt a calloused hand cup her cheek and she flinched away from it. She couldn't help it. She knew exactly whose hand it belonged to and she does not want him touching her. "I couldn't have you walking around by yourself; it's too dangerous out there."_

_Felicity's throat was so dry that she had to swallow hard to speak without sounding too weak. "You don't see the irony in that, do you?"_

_She heard him laugh before she could see him clearly. She didn't realise how long it actually takes for her eyes to come back to normal from the drug. As soon as they were able to focus enough, she almost got a fright with how close he was. Drake was right in front of her, his bright green eyes almost shining with amusement. Felicity still has a hard time imagining how someone with such innocent eyes could be so deadly and calculated._

_She twisted her head away from his hand and reached up to adjust her glasses on her face, forgetting she wasn't actually wearing her glasses at the moment. She noticed two men standing behind her, both with side arms. She can't see anyone else and she hopes there is no one else in here "Look, like I said before I don't want to be here, but you haven't given me much of a choice." She looked at him and realised he was still watching and smiling at her. It made her feel so unclean that she crossed her arms over her chest instinctively. "You need to give me an idea of what you want me to do because I can't go in blind."_

"_I don't understand Felicity…" God she hated it when he said her name; it sounds like he's cursing. "I thought you were the best hacker around."_

_She frowned slightly; she recognises those words. She said them to Diggle and Roy as a joke about three months ago. Does he really think baiting her with her pride would work? Because her pride flew out the window when he first contacted her. "Skills are not important here." She sighed and ran a hand over her hair. "There are different levels of security for different places. Obviously a bank is going to have more security than a post office right? So if I'm going to hit something huge like NASA for example, then I need time. And even then you'll only have a small window of opportunity to do whatever it is you have to because their backup protocols will kick in and I won't be able to stop them."_

_She watched him for any indications that he thinks she's bluffing but she's confident he won't find any. She knows computers so that's why she chose this particular story. Although Felicity has done a lot of lying throughout the past couple of days it has done nothing to improve that particular skill, no one was convinced of her being okay whatsoever. So she had to choose something that was a lie based on truth. What she told him is true; if she were to hack into a place like NASA she would need time and they would only have a limited amount of time to do what they needed._

_But that doesn't mean she's here to help them._

_Drake nodded slightly and stood up towering over her. She didn't realise before but he's really tall, maybe taller than Oliver. He offered her his hand to help her out of her chair and she couldn't help the eye roll before standing up on her own accord. "I'll show you what we need and I'll take you home. Where are your glasses?" _

"_In my bag, figured you could take the little camera out now" She said looking more than hopeful at him. "Because I won't be telling anyone about what's going to happen."_

_He just shook his head and looked to her. "I can't take that risk. Keep wearing them." _

"_Great, wouldn't want you to miss mac and cheese night." She murmured. _

_He turned around to smile at her and she silently cursed herself. Her babbling does usually go into full gear when she's nervous but she really needs to be quiet._

_They stopped in front of a table and Felicity looked at all of the papers and blueprints strewn across it. By looking at the blueprints she can't tell what exactly the building is but she's not really interested in the building, she's interested in finding his gun before he does. She puts her hands on the table and leans forward to try and get a better look over the other side but she can't see anything. _

_Her search stopped when he grabbed her hand before she could pull away "I'm doing this for your own good, you know?"_

_Felicity felt a flare of anger rush through her as she snatched her hand back. "'For my own good'? Watching me for over six months was for my own good!? Keeping me in fear, making me paranoid, endangering my friends! That was all for my own good!?" She glared daggers into him as she lowered her voice to a deathly whisper. "Please tell me how this is all for my own good"_

_Then it happened. A voice came over the walkie talkies that one of the guards had on him. "Send back up! There's been a breach!"_

_Felicity saw Drake's face twist into anger at her for a split second before she punched him in the throat. He fell to his knees barely breathing, giving her enough time to dispatch the two that were standing behind her chair._

_They had pulled their guns on her and were yelling for her to stop moving but Felicity kept running at them. If she's right about Drake's infatuation with her, and right now she prays to god that she's right, then they won't dare shoot her._

_She hears them swear before they drop their guns when they realise she's called their bluff. They're bigger and stronger than her so she can't let them touch her; because if they manage to land a blow on her then it'll be hard for her to recover from it. The first guard throws the first punch. His big, meaty fist swinging at Felicity's head but she ducked under it and using both of their momentum lands a knee straight to his body. She heard him gasp for air before following up with a powerful downward drive of her elbow into his back._

_Muscular arms wrapped themselves around her and pulled her away. Instinctively, she checked his arm and stomped down hard on his foot. She felt his grip loosen immediately so she used all of her strength to punch straight out in front of her and break his hold on her. Once she was out of his arms she stomped on the same foot again, before elbowing his nose. _

_Felicity almost gagged at the feeling of his nose giving way. He went down to one knee with a yelp of pain holding his nose. Blood was gushing between his fingers and she had to turn away from the sight, she may be defending herself but it doesn't mean she likes it._

_Felicity turned away just in time to see the other guard reaching out to grab her. She pushed his hands away as she side stepped him. Her focus was solely on this particular guard that she didn't notice Drake until it was too late. She fell to the ground dazed as her ears were ringing from the punch. Her vision blurred a little and she shook her head to try and focus._

_A warm metallic taste filled her mouth as her lip throbbed in protest. She looked up to see Drake standing over her with his gun pointed at her head. Her earlier belief that he wouldn't touch her was thrown out the window when she saw the absolute rage behind his eyes. It was pure, unsettling and aimed at Felicity._

_She breathed heavily and wiped blood from her mouth. Her eyes darted between the barrel of the gun and his eyes. She took a small victory when his cold voice came out raspy from her punch "You shouldn't have done that."_

_END FLASHBACK_

Oh yeah, that's what happened.

Her lip was throbbing painfully as she could hear the commotion outside getting closer and closer. She needs to get that gun off of him, or at least distract him somehow. "You won't get out of this one Drake! I hope you know that!"

She watched his head twitch slightly towards her, seemingly affected by her words but he remained silent. "Oliver is not very happy with you. I'm sure you've seen his anger through the months that you've been watching us so you don't need me to tell you that you never want to be on his bad side." That got his attention. He turned his head and looked at her, anger making his eyes a darker shade of green. "Unfortunately for you he's pissed off for what you've done to me and to John."

His eyes twitched at the mention of herself. He turned fully towards her and spoke quietly. "I had to get you away from him."

Felicity frowned at that. She was right; he does have some sort of twisted feelings for her, not something she really wants to be right about but it actually worked in her favour. She watched him walk slowly towards her. "He was putting you in danger Felicity. He never respected you and used you for your skills. He doesn't care for you like I do. He will never treat you like you're supposed to be treated." He crouched down in front of her to be eye level with her. She saw his hand reach out to hers and she instinctively flinched away from it, wincing when her sore wrists rubbed against the restraints.

His hand covered hers and he leaned in close to her. "You deserve better Felicity and you deserve that with me."

Felicity wanted to be sick. This man who has threatened her, kidnapped her, drugged her three times and zip tied her to a chair twice thinks that she will just go with him quietly? That she will just forget all he's done to make the past week a living hell for her and be with him like that. "You make me sick" She whispered in disgust to him but her voice had steel behind it.

Felicity saw his jaw tighten as he stood up to tower over her again. "You have no idea what I've done to get you away from him."

"Who said I wanted to be away from him!?" She immediately responded.

She watched as he paced in front of her. "You may not see it yet Felicity but this is for your own good."

Felicity felt that same anger rush through her veins when he said that before all hell broke loose. "How?" She asked through gritted teeth. "How is this for my own good?"

She heard him sigh before crouching down and taking her hand again. "Getting you away from such a dangerous lifestyle is for your own good. Getting you away from people who seem to have no problem with putting you in danger is for your own good. You shouldn't have to put your life at risk for the sake of people you don't even know. For a city who shows their appreciation by mugging you, or attacking you; Oliver, your friends, this city, they don't deserve you."

She glared back at him, god he is crazy. "And what makes you think you deserve me."

Drake surprised her by shaking his head. "I don't. However I can give you the life you deserve; away from your friends and the dangerous nightlife so you can live your own life."

Felicity stared at Drake, she's not going to lie she's thought about what her life would be like if Oliver Queen hadn't brought that laptop into her cubicle. Her life would be infinitely less complicated, it wouldn't feel threatened all the time and she would still be doing a job that she loved. But those thoughts never stayed around long because now, she can't imagine her life without her friends in it.

Sure she's had to learn how to stitch a knife or bullet wound pretty quickly. She's put up with and been on the receiving end of her friends' anger more times than she can count. More often than not she's even had to take a blouse and skirt or two to the dry cleaners to remove a blood stain; sometimes she's just had to get rid of it because no amount of cleaning could ever get it out. But she's not complaining. Felicity relishes in the feelings she gets when they take another criminal off the street. Making not only her walk home safer but everyone she cares about and everyone they care about; their lives got safer ever since Oliver came back to the city.

And there is no way some mad man is going to take that away from her.

_FLASHBACK – TWO AND A HALF HOURS EARLIER_

"_Felicity, what happened!?" She heard Oliver before she saw him._

_She took a deep breath before swivelling around in her chair. Sara was behind Oliver already putting her mask and wig away like nothing had happened but Felicity took one look at him and she could tell he was furious. He's supposed to be pretending but all she can see is anger; maybe he's still angry from last night, she can't really blame him._

"_He must have piggy backed the signal off different cell towers. He's good."_

"_Well, you're supposed to be better." He slammed his bow back down in his case and Felicity couldn't help but to jump a little._

_Roy jumped in to back her up. "Hey back off, I was with her the entire time, she did what she could to try and find the guy."_

_She watched as Oliver's jaw tightened and he glared at Roy with so much hatred. He's not acting at the moment, he is still angry about last night. "Her best is obviously not good enough Roy! Drake got away again and Sara and I were nearly captured by the police."_

_Fair enough, the police wasn't part of their ruse, that was her mistake but she didn't mean to do it. Feeling a bit of fight make its way into her she stood up and walked towards him. "What? You think I did that on purpose? I told you, he must've piggy backed the signal, making it look like he's at a particular location. How was I to know that half the police department were at that location doing a training exercise?"_

"_But you usually do know Felicity that's my point. You're distracted and I don't know if I can trust your abilities at the moment!" He shouted at her._

_Felicity took a step back like the words physically hurt her. It was one of her worst fears coming true, Oliver doesn't trust her. It's all supposed to be an act but right now, she can't differentiate between fact and fiction. His eyes are full of anger and his body is so tense she's, for once, at a lost for what she can say or do to calm him down._

_She tears her eyes away from his face before quietly speaking "I need to go."_

_She could hear Roy and Sara calling after her, trying to get her to stay but she can't. They know that because it's all part of the plan. But his anger…she shakes her head, she can't think like that. She knew after she rejected him last night that she may never gain his trust ever again, she just didn't realize how hard that was going to be to accept. _

_Felicity walked out of the foundry and immediately let a big sigh pass her lips; she needs to carry this on. She can't delay any more because she needs for this to end tonight. She could feel her despair being replaced by nerves the more she thought about their plan. She started to walk down the back alley toward the street as her thoughts attacked her. What if she can't convince Drake to let her come to his new hideout? If she can't then her friends won't be able to get to Drake and she will have to go through with his plan tomorrow._

_She still feels mad at herself knowing that she didn't keep an eye on where Drake is. She thought he was so arrogant that he would leave his burner phone in the same place it has been for the past three days: in the warehouse. She didn't keep a close enough eye on it so now she's using herself as bait, yet again, to help her team get to his location._

_Felicity shivered as she reached the dark street. She pulled her coat tighter around her body knowing full well that the cold is not what is making her shiver. She heaved a sigh, well there's no time like the present. Slowly she reached into her bag, grabbed out her glasses and turned them so she was looking at the lenses._

"_Drake? Are you there?" She glanced up and noticed a couple walking by her giving her an odd look._

_Good one Felicity! She huffed out a breath of annoyance before quickly walking off to find a more private setting. She rounded the corner and came across another alleyway. With the amount of alleyways in this city it's no wonder there's so much crime here. Shaking her head slightly she entered the alleyway and lifted her glasses up again._

"_Drake if you're there, which I'm pretty sure you are then call me now please. It's an emergency." Felicity stood there for what felt like thirty minutes was actually thirty seconds before her phone rang in her bag._

_She accepted the call and brought it up to her ear but couldn't bring herself to say anything._

"_What's wrong Felicity?"_

_She heard his voice come through her phone. He sounded worried and as much as she felt wigged out by his tone she couldn't help but to feel hopeful that her plan could work out. "It's about tomorrow. I need to know what you guys need me to do."_

_The line was silent for a while and Felicity was worried that he's already cottoned onto her plan. "I told you, we would contact you when we need your help."_

_Felicity sighed. "I know but you don't understand computers like I do. I can't just go hacking into a database that I have no idea about because there could easily be backup protocols that send a silent alarm to SCPD's finest and as much as I want you behind bars I don't want to be caught up in all of that."_

_Another long silence followed that left Felicity feeling so nervous she decided to start pacing. "Look, I don't want to see you as much as you don't want to tell me the plan but I want you out of my life and if doing this job makes that happen then I need to know the ins and outs of everything."_

_More silence followed and Felicity looked at her phone, wondering if he hung up on her. She heard him sigh over the line. "Okay, my men will be there to pick you up in five minutes. Stay where you are."_

_And with that he hung up. Felicity looked at her phone and couldn't contain the smile that broke out on her face. He took the bait! Felicity was going to be leading the team straight to Drake and he didn't even know what was going to hit him._

_The smile faded however as she thought back to the argument she just walked out of. Oliver had his doubts with this plan from when she spoke with him last night. As expected he was pissed off but at the time she thought he was more pissed off at Drake than her. She had a feeling that her friends had their doubts as well when he told them but she convinced him the same way she always does. She knows he doesn't want her being used as bait but she has always had a way with Oliver; she seems to just say the right things to him._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Felicity looked Drake square in the eye and repeated what she always says to Oliver when he tried to tell her a mission is too dangerous. "It's my life, my choice." She spoke with so much strength in her voice she surprised herself. "And there's no way I'm going to let some psycho, stalker decide what's best for me!"

She watched the anger flare in his eyes as his face contorted into rage. She watched him raise his hand to hit her and she braced herself for the impact but all of a sudden the door behind him burst open. Felicity looked to the door and saw Oliver with an arrow drawn and Sara and Roy flanking him on both sides.

Before Felicity could say or do anything Drake was hiding behind her with one gun pointed at her head and the other over her shoulder aiming straight at Oliver. "Stay back! Or I'll shoot!" She could feel his arm, heavy on her shoulder and the cold barrel of the gun push against her temple.

She looked up at the others and saw both Sara and Roy slowly making their way to flank Drake while Oliver stayed stock till. His arrow still nocked in his bow and his stance strong. "Let her go Drake it's over!"

"Stop moving or I swear to god I'll put a bullet in her head!" Felicity couldn't see him but his tone was enough to make her realise that Drake is losing it. She realised a few days ago that Drake is the type of guy that needs to be in control and if he loses any amount of that control his emotions take over.

Dread filled her body as a thought occurred to her: she may not walk out of here alive.

"Put your weapons down now!"

"Don't do it!" Felicity yelled at them but Drake pushed the barrel hard into her head.

"Shut up!"

Felicity locked eyes with Oliver. She saw out of the corner of her eyes that Roy and Sara had stopped moving and Sara had put down her bo-staff. She watched Oliver and tried to communicate with him not to do it. She watched him hastate before reluctantly lowering his bow and pulling the arrow out.

He dropped the arrow and Felicity couldn't help but to think about the similarity between this situation and the one she found herself in with the Count close to eight months ago. She pleaded with Oliver to not kill for her; to not break his vow and even now, Felicity doesn't want him to kill Drake. She ground her teeth as she realised what she could do because this time however, Felicity isn't all that powerless.

"Don't hurt them please." She pleaded with Drake. "I'll do whatever you want just please, don't kill them."

"Felicity - -" She heard Oliver try to talk to her but she threw him her best 'shut up' look and his mouth closed tightly with a tick in his jaw.

"Please Steven, take me with you right now and they won't follow. Tomorrow I will do as planned, whatever the job is just let them go." Blood was pumping so fast throughout her body that every sense she had was heightened. Her lip was throbbing even worse than before, her hands felt clammy, a bead of sweat was slowly tracking its way down her face making her want to itch it. "I will go with you just let them go." She repeated desperately, this had to work.

Felicity breathed out a sigh of relief as the gun that was on her head left. "Fine, but if they make one move then I will shoot them and then you." He cut the zip-ties and was hauling her up by her ponytail. "You two get over there with Oliver." The gun was now stabbing into her back as she was being pulled by her hair backwards. She watched Roy and Sara slowly make their way back to Oliver.

"Drake!" She saw Oliver take a step forward and Drake responded by pointing his gun at Oliver.

"Don't even - -" Drake started to threaten but Felicity interrupted him.

Everything happened so fast. First she lashed out quickly with her left elbow, spinning hard and fast and connecting with his nose. His hand dropped from her hair so with his outstretched arm that held the gun she grabbed it and spun it over her head and she held it by her hip so his arm was in an arm lock. The gun slipped from his hand and Felicity was holding him there, locked in pain.

She thought she had him, no one had to die and none of her friends were hurt. She heard him mutter something and she had to strain her ears to hear him. "If I can't have you then no one can."

Felicity registered a loud noise and almost simultaneously felt white hot pain fill her body. Her grip on Drake fell away as she stumbled away feeling somewhat dazed. She vaguely heard Oliver cry out and saw Drake fall away from her with arrows protruding from his chest. She felt weak all of a sudden and saw little dark spots start to dance in her vision. She looked down at what she thinks is the source of her pain and saw it.

She would've felt anger at herself for not remembering about the second gun but instead she could only feel pain.

An alarming amount of blood soaked her blouse and the thought made her knees give way. She fell to the ground just as Oliver, Roy and Sara came into her vision. She was finding it hard to breath; the more she tried to breath the more it hurt her to do so. Everything was cold. The floor she's lying on was cold, the air around her was cold, and her body was so cold that when a hand lay on her cheek she clung to the warmth that it brought, hoping it would spread to the rest of her body.

Felicity was tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. These past few days have been so stressful and lonely that all she wanted to do was take a nice long nap but something was telling her not to. She could hear Oliver above her encouraging her to stay awake, to stay with him. God the distressed look in his eyes was enough for Felicity to close her eyes and block it out. But she didn't. Something deep within her chest was urging her to keep her eyes open, to keep her eyes on Oliver's.

"Stay with me Felicity." She vaguely heard Oliver call to her. As much as she wants to stay awake and as much as she's trying to fight off the sleep; she can't. Her body is in dire need of rest. Her vision is getting even darker as every time she blinks it's a struggle to keep opening her eyes again.

"Sara!"

"It's already done! They're five minutes out."

She barely hears what they're saying, the voices sounding muddled and like they're standing in a tunnel. She can feel it, her body is giving up. She wants to fight but she can't.

"No, don't leave me Felicity! Fight it! Keep your eyes open!" She heard him but she couldn't. No matter how much she wanted to keep looking up at him, her body wanted to shut down more.

So her eyes slid closed and darkness took over.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**So that's the end of that chapter. One more chapter to go and I promise that questions will be answered.**

**Thanks again for all the support I have received for this story; it means so much to me! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned next Sunday, where I will hopefully have the last chapter up=)**


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